Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus says he is looking at how to better protect people who expose corruption and misconduct.
Whistleblowers are likely to get better protections under law changes being considered by Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus.
Mr Dreyfus on Thursday announced leaking charges against lawyer Bernard Collaery would be dropped after years of court action, much of it done out of the public eye.
Having taken on the attorney-general role after Labor won the May election, Mr Dreyfus has been drafting a bill to set up a federal integrity commission.
A task force in his department is looking at protections for people who highlight corruption or misconduct and seek to report their evidence to the commission.
“There will be a need to protect whistleblowers in connection with the work of the national anti-corruption commission,” Mr Dreyfus said.
“(People who give evidence) whether in private hearings or public hearings will also need to be expressly protected by the legislation.”
Mr Dreyfus said more broadly he had a long-standing commitment to the protection of “genuine whistleblowers”.
He said it was disappointing the coalition government had not acted on the findings of a statutory review conducted by former public servant Philip Moss from six years ago.
“I’m now looking closely at the implementation of Mr Moss’ recommendations and you can expect to hear more from me in coming months about that.”
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