Source: Getty / ArnoMassee/Getty Images/iStockphoto
Australians looking to expose wrongdoing need to navigate a complex legal minefield, with significant developments changing how people blow the whistle.
In the latest legal precedent set in 2025, whistleblowers can use information unveiled in legal discovery — when both sides of a case disclose confidential documents to the other for evidence in a trial — to make a public interest disclosure.
A public interest disclosure is a protected complaint under whistleblowing laws that shields a person from defamation, breach of non-disclosure agreements, reprisals, or criminal prosecution.
The Human Rights Law Centre's intervention in the case of an ABC whistleblower fighting the public broadcaster in court determined that whistleblower immunity extended to confidential court documents when making a public interest disclosure to expose wrongdoing.
The centre's acting senior lawyer, Anneliese Cooper, welcomed the outcome earlier this month as a positive step forward.
"However, this novel and technical judgment demonstrates the difficulties whistleblowers face when navigating complex whistleblowing laws in Australia," Cooper said.
"Too many people who blow the whistle in Australia face reprisals due to loopholes, exceptions and prescriptive requirements in Australia's whistleblowing laws."
Cooper called on the federal government to...
Income Tax alert! The Income Tax Department is sending emails and SMSes to taxpayers, just ahead of the year-end, alerting them of mismatches in their deduction and exemption claims while processi...