Public interest disclosure needs more than principles — it needs protection. A new whistleblower authority is on the cards. Will it stick?
The recently released report from Transparency International Australia, the Human Rights Law Centre and Griffith University, ‘A Fair Go for Speaking Up: Design Principles for Australia’s Federal Whistleblower Authority’, is a sore reminder about the critical absence of an agency able to aid those interested in making public interest disclosures.
Such a body could have been invaluable for Robert Boyle, who, failing to avail himself of the Public Interest Disclosure Act 2013 (Cth), pleaded guilty to four charges. This, despite having exposed the unlawful practice by the ATO of appropriating funds from taxpayer accounts without notice.
It might have been indispensable to providing advice and support to individuals such as David McBride, who disclosed evidence of alleged war crimes committed by Australian special forces in Afghanistan.
The timing of the report’s release is prescient. The Whistleblower Protection Authority Bill 2025 (No. 2), advanced by independents Andrew Wilkie and Helen Haines in the lower house, and senators David Pocock and Jacqui Lambie in the upper house, is the subject of review by the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee. Submissions on the bill were being accepted by the Committee until June 30, with a report anticipated towards the end of August.
The design principles for the WPA number 10...
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