Bribery and corruption can affect any organisation, and its impacts can flow through the entire economy. While there are safeguards that an organisation can take to combat the influence of foreign bribery and corruption, it is often only the largest organisations that can invest in these measures.

Tools for training staff, raising awareness, and addressing foreign bribery can be prohibitively expensive for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to access. Further, there is no industry standard to ensure the effectiveness or accuracy of an organisation’s bribery prevention policies.

Last year a collection of nearly 50 of Australia’s leading experts in anti-bribery and corruption — representing over 30 companies, enforcement agencies, government departments and non-government organisations — held a forum to brainstorm this issue: how could Australian industry collectively respond to the threat of foreign bribery?  

The answer is the creation of the Bribery Prevention Network.

The Bribery Prevention Network is an online portal offering free, high-quality resources to assist Australian business in preventing, detecting, and addressing foreign bribery. These free resources will allow all organisations, no matter their size, access to effective bribery prevention materials. The website is managed by a collaborative Steering Committee of business (listed and SME), government bodies and NGOs and is funded by both private and government contributions.

Webinar Speakers included:

• James Campbell – Partner, Allens
• Sophie McMurray – Anti-bribery and Corruption Officer, Westpac Group
• Rachel Nicolson – Partner, Allens
• Kylie Porter – Executive Director, Global Compact Network Australia
• Tim Robinson – Chief Compliance Officer, BHP
• Cameron Watts – Sergeant, Financial Crime, Australian Federal Police
• Bill Witham – CEO, Australia-Africa Minerals & Energy Group

You can access the webinar here.