LACA Whistleblowers report February 2009

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Proposal to protect government whistleblowers

The House of Representatives Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee has released its report on whistleblower protection for the federal government public sector. The report recommends that the federal government introduce new dedicated legislation to facilitate the making of public interest disclosures and strengthen legal protection for whistleblowers in the Commonwealth public sector.

The Chair of the Committee Mark Dreyfus QC noted that specific Commonwealth legislation on public interest disclosures is overdue.

"The Commonwealth is the only Australian jurisdiction that does not have legislation to encourage public interest disclosures," Mr Dreyfus said.

"While some limited protections are available to whistleblowers employed by Australian Public Service agencies, evidence to the inquiry indicates that those protections are grossly inadequate".

"The current legal framework and organisational culture discourages public servants from speaking out against what they consider to be illegal or improper conduct in the workplace. People who raise allegations of misconduct could be exposed to serious criminal or civil liability. The Committee considers that a comprehensive public interest disclosure system is needed. The system should include Commonwealth public sector employees, contractors and consultants and provide statutory protection against detrimental action, and immunities from civil and criminal liability. Public interest disclosure legislation should play a central role in identifying and addressing wrongdoing in the public sector."

Other key areas of recommendations in the report titled Whistleblower protection: a comprehensive scheme for the Commonwealth public sector, include:

That the new legislation be called Public Interest Disclosure Act, with the primary purpose of promoting accountability and integrity in public administration (Recommendations 1-2);
That the system comprise a two stage process of internal and external reporting with the Commonwealth Ombudsman to oversee of the administration of the Act (Recommendations 15-18);
That agencies have obligations to act of the disclosures they receive (Recommendation 16); and
That in certain circumstances, disclosures made to third parties such as the media, legal advisors, professional associations and Members of Parliament, should be protected (Recommendations 19-25).

More information

Visit: Whistleblower protection report page – report available to download

Read: Media release – Report recommends a comprehensive scheme for Commonwealth whistleblowers

Listen: Audio PODcast of the press conference (MP3 – 34 Mb)

The podcast of the media conference after the report’s release features comments and analysis from the Chair of the Committee, Mr Mark Dreyfus QC, and Deputy Chair, Peter Slipper. An expert on whistleblower law, Dr AJ Brown from Griffith University also attended and spoke about the report at the committee’s media conference.

Watch: Streaming video of press conference via the House Highlights section on ParlReplay