Compliance in Australia

Recently I received this surprise email from Australia: 

“Hello Joseph,

Good news!

The board of GRC Institute has approved your Life Membership title.

Congratulations!” 

I have been a member of GRCI (Governance, Risk and Compliance Institute) since its first days when it was ACPA (Association of Compliance Professionals of Australia). I was the first American to join. I attended and spoke at some of their early conferences. I have been paying dues for decades, so it was pretty cool to get this notice. 

In those first years I learned a lesson from ACPA - unlike the Ethics Officer Association (EOA) in the US, they did not strictly limit membership only to those working inhouse. Rather, they were open to anyone who shared this interest – regulators, consultants, academics, vendors, students. I saw that this worked brilliantly for them. Back in the US I recommended this approach to the EOA, but they did not change. SCCE, on the other hand, respected all players in the field and welcomed anyone who wanted to be a member. I knew that this was a much more effective approach.  

Many people still think that compliance was some odd thing that sprouted up in America only. But Australia has also been a leader in this field. Long ago in the late 80’s and early 90’s I collaborated with some really sharp folks in Australia on this topic. John Braithwaite was my first contact. He had me invited to Canberra to talk with the staff at what I think was then called the Trade Practices Commission, now the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). I met the incomparable Bill Dee who was then in the ACCC staff and our conspiracy to promote compliance in Australia was on! (Bill was also co-founder with me of the Society of Dancing Compliance and Ethics Professionals, but that is another story).

Here is a current example of Australia’s influence. Recently the International Standards Organization adopted ISO 37301, the compliance management system. What people do not know is that this had its origins in Australia, which had the first national compliance standard, AS 3806. Thanks to Bill Dee I had the opportunity when that was first being developed to offer some comments: I remember that I urged them to emphasize the need for “clout” for compliance officers (a term I had picked up from John Braithwaite).

If someday someone wants to write the history of the compliance & ethics field, I urge them to spend time in Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne. It will be well worth the time. And like me, anyone who travels there will probably fall in love with this amazing country. G’day, mates!  

Joe Murphy

Life Member 

GRC Institute