An audit of whistleblowing at six NSW councils has found there may be cultural barriers to reporting serious wrongdoing in local government.
Barriers could include a lack of trust in ‘head office’, an ‘us versus them’ mentality and a culture of not ‘dobbing in a mate’, the NSW Ombudsman’s report released on Monday says.
The audit, undertaken to identify whether local government culture, systems or practices could be contributing to a failure by staff to make public interest disclosures (PIDs), highlights the need for local councils to ensure whistleblowing is encouraged, identified and reported.
It contains the findings of audits on six local councils, none of which were found to have received any PIDs for three years between 2018 and 2020.
Overall, only that 66 per cent, or 85 of NSW’s 128 councils received a PID between 2018 -2020. Fifty two of those councils employed more than 150 staff.
The data also indicates that local councils are less likely than universities, local health districts and state government agencies of a similar size to receive whistleblower complaints.
“The willingness of public servants and employees at all levels to report serious wrongdoing is essential to maintaining the integrity of the public sector. In all six audited councils, however, we found that there may be cultural barriers to reporting,” Ombudsman Paul Miller says.
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