Whistleblower Protection in Australia: Private Sector Dragging Behind Public

Monday 15 September 2014 @ 11.48 a.m. | Legal Research | Trade & Commerce

A recently released report found that Australia has one of the world’s best whistleblower protection frameworks across the public sector, but that there are insufficient mechanisms to protect whistleblowers in the private sector.  The report, by researchers from Blueprint for Free Speech, the University of Melbourne, Griffith University and Transparency International Australia, looked at legislation frameworks across the G20 nations.  ABC News reported that

“[t]he G20 has identified fighting corruption as a major part of its agenda, saying it results in losses of around $1 trillion in revenue every year.”

Australia’s public sector whistleblowing protection was updated recently by Labor’s introduction of the Public Interest Disclosure Act 2013 last year,  which established a statutory regime to investigate claims of misconduct in the Commonwealth public sector.  However, the report also noted that Australia’s private sector is performing poorly, with legislation failing to meet the required benchmarks:

“the scope of wrongdoing covered is ill-defined, anonymous complaints are not protected, there are no requirements for internal company procedures, compensation rights are ill-defined, and there is no oversight agency responsible for whistleblower protection.”

Dr Suelette Dreyfus,  one of the report’s authors, told ABC News that whistleblowing brought benefits that were not always taken into account:

“They ensure that taxpayer money isn't wasted on fraudulent activities. They ensure that our  consumer products we buy at the supermarket or cars, that sort of thing, are safer…Whistleblowing is a kind of collective moral conscience. It's quite a cost-effective way for stopping things like fraud in companies and in governments.”

Interestingly, both Australia and the US, who ranked best in protection for public sector whistleblowers, are currently seeking to limit their protections and criminalise some types of information disclosure.

As previously reported on TimeBase, the Abbott Government’s National Security Legislation Amendment Bill (No. 1) 2014 has been strongly criticised by lawyers and Australian media organisations who fear that whistleblowers and journalists could be jailed for disclosing the existence of special intelligence operations.  The Australian Lawyers Alliance told the Sydney Morning Herald said if the legislation had applied last year, the:

 “whistleblowing or even reporting on the alleged bugging of Timor Leste’s government cabinet room, may … have constituted an offence. Isolating potentially serious abuses of government power from public scrutiny is dangerous and liable to abuse.”

Legal Week also recently released a survey on whistleblowing procedures in large corporations. They surveyed 72 senior legal professionals, the majority of whom came from UK-based companies (85% of respondents) but many also had overseas offices (71%).  The survey found that 73% of companies had whistleblowing procedures in place.  Respondents also reported that “local culture followed by local data privacy and protection laws are the greatest challenges to establishing overseas whistleblowing processes and systems”.  Legal Week’s report also stressed the importance of having formal procedures in place, saying:

“Addressing whistleblowing head on will enable organisations to protect both their reputations and their bottom lines, as well as contributing to the well-being of their staff.”

TimeBase is an independent, privately owned Australian legal publisher specialising in the online delivery of accurate, comprehensive and innovative legislation research tools including LawOne and unique Point-in-Time Products.

Sources:

Related Articles: