The Transparency International 2019 Corruption Perception Index shines a spotlight on money in politics, political integrity and restoring trust in politics. The report suggests that reducing big money in politics and promoting inclusive political decision-making are essential to curbing corruption.

Three essential characteristics that the world’s ‘cleanest’ countries (with a score of 100 being most clean and zero being more corrupt) have in common are a robust rule of law, independent oversight institutions, and a public with no tolerance for corruption. There is still much work to be done with two thirds of the 180 countries scoring below 50. Australia remains the same as last year, but has dropped 8 points in the last 8 years.

Some key findings include:

• Corruption is more pervasive in countries where big money can flow freely into electoral campaigns.
• Corruption is more likely to occur where governments are influenced by and listen to the voice of wealthy or well-connected individuals, lobbyists and special interest groups.
• Countries that perform well on the CPI have stronger enforcement of campaign finance regulation and broader range of political consultation – not just listening to the voices of well-connected and wealthy individuals and their lobbyists
• Sixty percent of countries that have significantly improved their CPI score since 2012 strengthened regulations around campaign donations