The Importance of Moral Courage in Leadership
AN OCCASIONAL ADDRESS TO THE UNIVERSITY OF TASMANIA FACULTY OF ARTS GRADUATION ON 14 DECEMBER 2010, BY Chief Executive Officer, Mrs Barbara Etter APM
“The Importance of Moral Courage in Leadership”
Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor, distinguished guests, graduates, ladies and gentlemen, girls and boys. Before I commence, I would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of this land. It is with great pleasure that I am delivering an occasional address this morning at this very important event – your graduation. The university kindly allowed me to consider a topic of my own choice. Sometimes this is harder than when people actually give you a topic! I thought about what I wanted to speak on for some time. After nearly 30 years in policing, in various jurisdictions of Australia, I have a real passion for integrity and leadership. Over time, and particularly with my more recent involvement in corruption fighting, I have really come to value the concept of moral as opposed to physical courage. Both Aristotle and Plato wrote about courage as a “virtue” (or a human quality necessary for people to live together). As head of the newly-formed Integrity Commission here in Tasmania, I find the virtue of moral courage of great importance as we work to not only prevent misconduct and corruption, but actively seek out this invidious “cancer” and deal with it appropriately and as swiftly as we can. In this respect, and working within the constraints of the legislation, we have taken on a proactive role in relation to a number of matters of significant public interest. Our active oversight of the recent fatal police shooting I believe is an example of this proactive approach. There are other matters, too, which I am unable at this time to speak about which I and others felt compelled to pursue. I might add that there has already been a bit of pushback on us “taking the initiative” on some issues. Moral courage is an essential criterion, in particular, in striving for integrity and
“The Importance of Moral Courage in Leadership”
Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor, distinguished guests, graduates, ladies and gentlemen, girls and boys. Before I commence, I would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of this land. It is with great pleasure that I am delivering an occasional address this morning at this very important event – your graduation. The university kindly allowed me to consider a topic of my own choice. Sometimes this is harder than when people actually give you a topic! I thought about what I wanted to speak on for some time. After nearly 30 years in policing, in various jurisdictions of Australia, I have a real passion for integrity and leadership. Over time, and particularly with my more recent involvement in corruption fighting, I have really come to value the concept of moral as opposed to physical courage. Both Aristotle and Plato wrote about courage as a “virtue” (or a human quality necessary for people to live together). As head of the newly-formed Integrity Commission here in Tasmania, I find the virtue of moral courage of great importance as we work to not only prevent misconduct and corruption, but actively seek out this invidious “cancer” and deal with it appropriately and as swiftly as we can. In this respect, and working within the constraints of the legislation, we have taken on a proactive role in relation to a number of matters of significant public interest. Our active oversight of the recent fatal police shooting I believe is an example of this proactive approach. There are other matters, too, which I am unable at this time to speak about which I and others felt compelled to pursue. I might add that there has already been a bit of pushback on us “taking the initiative” on some issues. Moral courage is an essential criterion, in particular, in striving for integrity and