Reviewed by Dr Richard Murray
In Australia, there is an absence of practical legal protections for whistleblowers making the act of blowing the metaphorical whistle perilous at best. Australia is not alone in its treatment and lack of protection for whistleblowers.
Australia has a problem. What should be a robust democracy is falling behind. With the near collapse of “free and fearless” press, avenues to expose abuses of power have become harder to access in Australia’s post-digital disruption. News organisations are required to “do more with less.” These changes have been acutely felt by Australia’s whistleblowers – those willing to sidestep institutional and governmental authority in the public interest.
The centuries-old concept of parliamentary privilege has become the safest way for whistleblowers to leak sensitive, revealing, and sometimes damaging information on Australia’s rich and powerful. Most recently, David Pocock, Zoe Daniel, and Andrew Wilkie have used parliamentary privilege to give voice to whistleblowers. Pocock revealed an oil spill by mining and minerals giant Santos. Daniel revealed details leaked by a whistleblower in Victoria of children being kept in solitary confinement in a youth detention centre for 22 hours a day, while Wilkie tabled documents that showed misconduct in the controversial Hillsong Church. However, these parliamentary and senate pathways by nature are political and can lead to the hyper-politicalising of issues that...
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