We all know integrity is central to building a high-performing and trusted APS. To embed integrity well, it is essential to not only apply the ‘rules’, but to know how to make ethical and defensible decisions in a range of situations.
To help managers build team awareness about the subtleties of grooming, we teamed up with the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) to share some of their resources.
Grooming is the practice of building personal relationships and influence with public officials, with a view to then exploit them for private gain or access to information. It is often subtle, and it can be difficult to identify, groomers can be patient and use tactics to make it feel like you have a genuine friendship.
The four stages of grooming are:
- Targeting – potential corrupter identifies the target as a vulnerable individual.
- Relationship building – a relationship is established and built via deceptive strategies to generate a sense an obligation and loyalty.
- Coercion – once the relationship has been built, the corrupter asks or demands corrupt or unethical conduct. This may be through threats, extortion, or violence.
- Corrupt conduct – this can involve both actions and omissions such as unlawful access to information, disclosure of protected information, taking of bribes, and overlooking unlawful conduct.
Grooming tactics can range from offering financial assistance, targeting people’s need for recognition (nice holidays, expensive gifts), manipulation or threats.
APS employees play a vital role in preventing fraud and corruption and should report any unusual or persistent contact with individuals who use grooming tactics. You can report directly to the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) via their corruption reporting form or engage with your agency’s fraud and corruption team.
The ‘Villain Academy’ interactive video game, released by the ATO during Security, Integrity and Fraud Awareness week last year, is an exciting initiative that challenged ATO people as they ‘choose your own adventure’ and step into the shoes of a villain and attempting to infiltrate the ATO.
The innovative, interactive game is designed to test skills and judgment, show you the darker side of human nature, and the consequences of your choices. In 15 minutes, players gain insights about how to stay alert to the risks and vulnerabilities of grooming and how to protect themselves and others from fraud and corruption risks.
Test yourself or your team by playing Villain Academy.
The Villain Academy game comes with a support guide, which is designed to work together with the game, and provide more detailed information on the themes covered. A manager guide is also available to help you lead discussions and generate conversations with your team.
Also accessible to APS agencies are the ‘ATO Integrity based group-discussion resources for leaders’ which is a valuable learning collection. The resources raise awareness of internal fraud and corruption risks and aim to promote a culture of high organisational integrity. The activities are short, cover a range of topics and only take 10-20 minutes making them easy to include in regular team meetings.
For further information about these resources contact the ATO’s Fraud Prevention and Internal Investigations team.
NOTE: Villain Academy is an ATO learning resource. Scenarios are fictional and developed to raise awareness of fraud and corruption risks. ATO specific hyperlinks referred to in the game and guides will not open for users outside the ATO.