Richard Boyle and David McBride each thought they were doing the right thing. Boyle worked at the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) and grew concerned about unethical, aggressive debt recovery practices pursued against small business owners. McBride was a lawyer in the Australian Army, who while serving in Afghanistan was troubled by apparent wrongdoing by Australian forces.
The Public Interest Disclosure Act (the PID Act) was enacted by federal parliament in 2013, to encourage whistleblowers to speak up and protect them from adverse consequences. Boyle and McBride each tried to follow the PID Act – they blew the whistle internally first, and then to oversight agencies. Only as a last resort did Boyle and McBride go public – both to the ABC. Speaking up publicly is protected in certain circumstances under the PID Act, which recognises the important democratic role of the media and its importance as a safety-valve when things go wrong and whistleblowing is not heeded internally.
Boyle and McBride have both been vindicated. Independent inquiries have verified the wrongdoing they spoke up about. Reform and change has come about as a result, thanks in...
You are reading the second issue of the Disinformation Monitor. It is published on a monthly basis and provides an overview of developments on the disinformation scenes on NATO’s eastern frontier....