Australia ranked in the top ten cleanest countries in the annual rankings of the perception of corruption by the group Transparency International.  But Oz has dropped slightly in the rankings, possibly because of scandals such as those surrounding Leighton Holdings and the Reserve Bank subsidiary Securency.

Transparency International’s 2013 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) gives nations a score from zero to 100; low scores indicate a perception that a nation is corrupt, high scores indicate the view that the nation is clean.  Australia got an 81 this year, four points lower than 2012’s score of 85.  The drop puts Oz among the “biggest decliners”, alongside nations that also experienced a drop, such as Syria, Libya, Mali, Spain, Iceland, and Guatemala.

The last time Australia sunk lower on the CPI was in 2007, when authorities dropped criminal investigations into those involved with the Australian Wheat Board kickbacks scandal.

The cleanest countries on earth are Denmark and New Zealand with scores of 91 out of 100.  The dirtiest, nastiest, most-corrupt places on earth are Afghanistan, North Korea, and Somalia – each scored an 8 out of 100.