Corruption drains the public purse of vitally needed funding for quality health, education and other government services, but its impacts are felt even more widely.

Corruption undermines the economy, our democracy, and the rule of law, it undermines trust in government, and erodes the effectiveness of government departments and service delivery. Corruption leads to environmental degradation, land grabbing and the exploration of natural resources; it also undermines our traditional laws, customs and our communities.

Corrupton is now so entrenched and pervasive that many people feel hopeless and overwhelmed by the scale of the problem.

In these circumstances, it is clear there can be no single silver bullet that cures all our ills; even an ICAC needs to part of a much more comprehensive and far-reaching set of reforms.

At the moment though there is no clearly artculated and comprehensive plan of what is required.