Morrison Government must act urgently on stronger whistleblower protections
The Human Rights Law Centre has welcomed Attorney-General Christian Porter’s announcement that the Federal Government intends to overhaul current whistleblower protection laws and has called on the Government to commit to introducing and consulting on proposed changes early in the new year.
In its long overdue response to Philip Moss AM’s 2016 review of the Public Interest Disclosure Act 2013 (Cth) - the primary law protecting whistleblowers in the public sector – the Government accepted (in whole or in part) 30 of Moss’s 33 recommendations and declared its intention go further in some respects.
Human Rights Law Centre Senior Lawyer, Kieran Pender, welcomed the Government’s response to the Moss recommendations.
“Whistleblowers should not face prison for doing the right thing and speaking up in the public interest. Yet right now in Australia we have people facing jail time for exposing potential war crimes in Afghanistan, cynical debt recovery practices from the tax office, and our Government’s shameful bugging of Timor-Leste’s cabinet to get the upper hand in commercial oil and gas negotiations.”
“An overhaul of the current whistleblowing law is clearly needed and long overdue,” said Pender.
Pender said given the four year delay in responding to the Moss review and the aggressive persecution of whistleblowers in the interim, it was vital the Morrison Government moved quickly to introduce stronger protections and provide opportunity for input.
“The Moss review is a comprehensive roadmap for reform which the Government has sat on since 2016. In the meantime, it has overseen the prosecution of whistleblowers and police raids on journalists.”
“Until these proposed reforms become law, public sector whistleblowers will remain vulnerable and serious misconduct by government and public officials may remain hidden from the Australian people. The Government must act urgently to introduce the changes it has conceded are necessary,” said Pender.
One of the Moss Review’s recommendations that the Government did not accept was a proposal to revise the procedural requirements of the PID Act in line with a principles-based approach.
“The PID Act is an extremely complex piece of law,” said Pender. “It has been criticised by the Federal Court for being ‘technical, obtuse and intractable’; criticism that the Attorney-General has previously agreed with. While some of that technical detail is no doubt necessary for the law to operate effectively, the Government must ensure the PID Act is accessible and comprehensible to prospective whistleblowers.”
“Australia was once a world leader in whistleblower protections legislation,” said Pender. “We have since been overtaken. The European Union has recently introduced robust EU-wide whistleblowing laws. The Government must be bold in aligning with international best practice. Whistleblowers need stronger protections, and they need them now.”
Media enquiries:
Michelle Bennett
Human Rights Law Centre:
0419 100 519