Whistleblowers play a critical role in democracies. They shine a light on important public interest issues from misuse of public funds, to human rights abuses, to risks to public health or to the environment.
South Australia was one of the first states to recognise the importance of whistleblowers when, as early as 1993, it implemented landmark whistleblower protections for public servants who wanted to speak up about wrongdoing. But since then, whistleblower protection laws across Australia have evolved and South Australia has fallen behind, requiring whistleblowers to navigate complex, narrow and prescriptive pathways, with limited support.
This has the potential to change. In its new report, tabled in Parliament last week, the South Australian Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) made a large suite of recommendations which would better protect people who want to speak up in the public interest.
If these recommendations were made law, South Australia would once again be the national leader when it comes to supporting people who speak up in the public interest.
The ICAC recommended implementing an independent whistleblower support function within the South Australian Government’s Office of Public Integrity to provide information and support to whistleblowers throughout the disclosure process.
A support function would be a significant step towards ensuring that whistleblowers have adequate information and guidance, including ...
The federal government is cracking down on fraud in the healthcare industry, prioritizing False Claims Act (FCA) whistleblower complaints, and perhaps targeting the medical technology industry mor...