What is a whistleblower, what does a whistleblower do and what do do our Australian laws do for whistleblowers?
Up until July this year, whistleblower protection by law operated on a state-by-state basis with no uniformity on a Commonwealth level.
Under this system, Australia was ranked 26th on the 2013 Free Press Index by Reporters Without Borders. According to Gerry Georgatos, an investigative journalist and WikiLeaks Party Senate Candidate, this low ranking was indicative of a “muzzled press" due to "inadequate shield laws for journalists and a repugnant lack of adequate whistleblower protections.”
This YouTube video provides a fantastic American perspective on the place and function of whistleblowers in a democracy.
Whistleblowing,
by its definition, is undertaken for the good of the public. According to
Suelette Dreyfus, it provides a vital system for the democratic regulation of
the public sector. Dreyfus says that,
“Whistleblowing
provides one system to reveal… serious wrongdoing. Done properly, it creates a
method of improving integrity in government. Importantly it also prevents a small
problem turning into a full-scale catastrophe.”
Blowing the whistle on corruption or some other form of malpractice that poses harm to the public environment is risky business for the whistleblower. Doing so can and often will result in reprisal, including being fired, defamed, blacklisted, attacked or, in some rare cases, killed.
Transparency International suggests that strengthening whistleblower protection at law is an international imperative. They recently stated that,
“(Whistleblowing) can endanger lives and livelihoods, which is why strong whistleblower protection laws are indispensable. If no one is going to protect you for doing the right thing, why expose yourself…?”
Up until July this year, whistleblower protection by law operated on a state-by-state basis with no uniformity on a Commonwealth level.
Under this system, Australia was ranked 26th on the 2013 Free Press Index by Reporters Without Borders. According to Gerry Georgatos, an investigative journalist and WikiLeaks Party Senate Candidate, this low ranking was indicative of a “muzzled press" due to "inadequate shield laws for journalists and a repugnant lack of adequate whistleblower protections.”
This
position had a significant impact on those who witnessed wrongdoing in public and
private sectors across the country.
Before the Public Interest Disclosure Act was signed into law in July, figures
produced by Public Service Commissioner Stephen Sedgwick showed that
approximately 20,000 federal public servants had witnessed serious internal
misconduct over the last 12 months.
Less than half of those
witnesses made internal reports and of those who reported, 55 percent said they
were not satisfied with the reaction.
These figures give us a bit of
an idea of the scale of the problem with current whistleblower protection laws.
After years of deliberation,
discussion and inquiry at a parliamentary level, the federal government
introduced whistleblower protection legislation to the Parliament. In July this
year, the Public Interests Disclosure
Bill, the first national law of its kind in the world, was enacted.
This is a solid first step in
the unification and strengthening of Australia’s whistleblower protection and,
according to AJ Brown, fills one of the largest holes in our federal public
integrity system.
Despite providing landmark changes
for the Australian whistleblower, the Act
still lacks some crucial measures for protection. Suelette Dreyfus highlights
that the Act does not protect people
from blowing the whistle on the conduct of minsters (including the prime
minister) or in regards to intelligence matters.
Appleby,
Bannister and Olijynk also point out that the Act requires external disclosures to be of public interest in order
for the whistleblower to get protection. This means the whistleblower must make
a risky judgment call as to the nature of their disclosure.
Another
major shortfall of the whistleblower legislation is its lack of protective
coverage for the corporate, unincorporated and charitable sectors, which remain
largely unprotected.
Regardless
of these shortcomings, this new legislation provides a great base from which
further developments in the protection of whistleblowers will stem.
Whistleblowing is a core freedom of
expression issue. It is critical we properly protect whistleblowers brave
enough to step forward. It is not possible to ensure that everyone elected to
or employed by government is angelic. But with good whistleblowing laws we can
ensure that our collective better angels are watching out for the integrity of
our public institutions.
This YouTube video provides a fantastic American perspective on the place and function of whistleblowers in a democracy.
References:
Appleby, G., Bannister, J. & Olijynk, A. (2013, June). New whistleblower bill
exposes old inadequacy. The
Age: Comment.
Retrieved Sept. 8, 2013, from http://www.theage.com.au/comment/new-whistleblower-bill-exposes-old-inadequacy-20130625-2ov2j.html
Appleby, G. (2013, July 30).
Whistleblower protection: the larger, more difficult, conversation. Inside Story. Retrieved Sept. 8, 2013, from http://inside.org.au/whistleblower-protection-the-larger-more-difficult-conversation/
Brown, A. J., (2013, June).
Whistleblowing law now an acid test for federal politicians. The Conversation. Retrieved Sept. 8, 2013, from http://theconversation.com/whistleblowing-law-now-an-acid-test-for-federal-politicians-15373
CleanGovBiz. (2012). Whistleblower protection:
encouraging reporting. Retrieved
Sept. 9, 2013, from http://www.oecd.org/cleangovbiz/toolkit/50042935.pdf
Dreyfus, S., (2013, April). Keeping us
honest: Protecting whistleblowers. The Conversation. Retrieved Sept. 8, 2013, from http://theconversation.com/keeping-us-honest-protecting-whistleblowers-13131
Dreyfus, S., Lederman, R., Brown, A. J.,
Milton, S., Miceli, M. P., Bosua, R., Clausen, A. & Schanzle, J. (2013). Human Sources: The
Journalist and the Whistle-blower in the Digital Era. In Tanner, S. &
Richardson, N. (Eds.), Journalistm Research and Investigation in a
Digital World (pp.
48-61). Oxford University Press.
Georgatos, G. (2013). No truly free press with our
inadequate shield laws, whistleblower protections. Independent Media Centre Australia.
Retrieved Sept, 8, 2013, from http://indymedia.org.au/2013/08/26/no-truly-free-press-with-our-inadequate-shield-laws-whistleblower-protections
O’Grady, S. (2013). Law expert welcomes
whistleblowing bill.
Griffith University. Retrieved Sept. 9, 2013, from https://app.griffith.edu.au/news/2013/03/25/law-expert-welcomes-whistleblowing-bill/
Public Interest Disclosure Act
2013 (Cth)
Tanner, S. & Richardson, N. (Eds.).
(2013). Journalism
Research and Investigation in a Digital World. Australia and Newzealand: Oxford University Press.
TheAustralianCollaboration. (2013). Democracy in Australia –
Protection of Whistleblowers. Retrieved
Sept. 9, 2013, from http://www.australiancollaboration.com.au/pdf/Democracy/Protection-of-whistleblowers.pdf
Towell, N. (2013, August). Public servant
leakers still face prosecution despite new whistleblower laws. The Age - National. Retrieved Sept. 9, 2013, from http://www.theage.com.au/national/public-service/public-servant-leakers-still-face-prosecution-despite-new-whistleblower-laws-20130809-2rlxa.html
Williams, R. (2013, August). The price of
speaking out: Laws governing private sector whistleblowers are full of gaps. The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved Sept. 8, 2013, from http://www.smh.com.au/business/the-price-of-speaking-out-20130809-2rngk.html
Images
Whistleblower knives [Image]. (2013). Retrieved from
'Blow here’ [Image]. (2013). Retrieved from http://blog.ucsusa.org/new-threats-to-whistleblowers-185
‘You did the right thing’ [Image].
(2013). Retrieved
from http://www.research.vt.edu/resmag/sciencecol/whistleblower.html
‘Whistleblower picks up steam’ [Image].
(2013). Retrieved
from http://defensetech.org/2006/09/18/whistleblower-picks-up-steam
Whistleblower law [Image]. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.hornsbylaw.com/atlanta-whistleblower-lawyer
Yellow whistleblower [Image]. (2013). Retrieve from http://parliamentflagpost.blogspot.com.au/2013/07/historic-new-whistleblower-protection.html
