A former whistleblower, a human rights lawyer and an ex-watchdog boss believe whistleblowers should be paid for information to encourage them to come forward.
Asked at an Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) forum in Adelaide on Wednesday afternoon if whistleblowers should be rewarded, former whistleblower Frank O’Toole responded with a quick “yes”.
O’Toole reported suspicious activity of an Australia Federal Police officer colleague which ended in a criminal prosecution, and he now sits on Australia’s National Whistleblowing Advisory Group, Transparency International.
He said many people argued against whistleblower rewards as a “knee-jerk reaction”, fearing a pay packet would encourage false complaints.
“If it turns out to be a vexatious complaint, you don’t get the reward, quite simply,” O’Toole told the panel.
Human Rights Lawyer Anneliese Cooper – who works with the Human Rights Law Centre’s Whistleblower Project – said a reward scheme worked internationally in the United States, Canada, South Korea and the United Kingdom.
“Really a whistleblower reward scheme is about recognising the whistleblower’s contribution to the public interest,” Cooper said.
“So it’s not necessarily about financially compensating them for what they’ve lost in terms of their lost employment or their legal fees.
“It’s just about saying what you’ve done is valuable and has contributed to society and has resulted in whatever outcome and recognising that.”
University of NSW...
CRIME & COURTS MELAKA, April 30 (Bernama) -- A Malaysian Armed Forces (MAF) officer with the rank of Major pleaded not guilty at the Ayer Keroh Sessions Court here today to five charges of su...