For thirteen years, Queensland mayor Jim Pisasale allegedly treated public office as a personal lifestyle subsidy — a run that included overseas trips, lavish dinners, escort services, and cash payments, all while championing a real estate development from which he stood to profit handsomely. Australian federal police eventually caught up with him at Melbourne airport carrying $50,000 in cash suspected to be proceeds of crime. He was subsequently convicted of giving false testimony at a Crime and Corruption Commission hearing. The official corruption charge related to his agreement to support a Yamanto real estate project in exchange for payments — including the aforementioned escort services and smaller cash sums — rather than the millions originally promised. The Victorian education department, meanwhile, produced its own star turn in this Guardian survey of Australian state scandals: a department director named Nino Napoli was sentenced in 2021 following an investigation into corrupt conduct. Two jurisdictions, two convictions, one overarching lesson: Australian local government was functioning as intended, just not for the public.