A Labor move to strengthen whistleblower protections has been cautiously welcomed by human rights advocates.
Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus gave a speech this morning to an anti-corruption conference where he vowed to introduce changes to the Public Interest Disclosure Act before the end of the year.
“This bill will ensure immediate improvements to the public sector whistleblower scheme are in place before the [National Anti-Corruption Commission] commences in mid-2023,” Dreyfus told the Australian Public Sector Anti-Corruption Conference in Sydney.
Dreyfus said the changes would be followed with more in-depth reform at a later stage.
“This will involve redrafting the Public Interest Disclosure Act to address the underlying complexity of the scheme and provide effective and accessible protections to public sector whistleblowers,” he said.
Human Rights Law Centre senior lawyer Kieran Pender told Crikey the government must follow through on the promise of reform.
“The attorney-general’s announcement is a welcome first step in fixing whistleblowing law, a step that has been overdue since the Moss review in 2016,” he said.
That review was led by Philip Moss AM and called for the establishment of a “positive obligation” to support whistleblowers, as well as witnesses.
“These minor technical changes are just the start — the Albanese government must stay the course and comprehensively overhaul whistleblower protections and establish a whistleblower protection authority in 2023,” Pender said.
“Major reform, not minor fixes, are needed to ensure whistleblowers are protected and not punished.”
Crikey understands cabinet signed off on the attorney-general’s plan on Monday.
It’s expected the bill will be introduced, but not passed, before the end of the year.
Dreyfus declined to specify what was in the bill or what the follow-up reforms would look like.
He’s been critical of the former Coalition government for doing “nothing” to act on the Moss report in the six years since it was delivered.
He gave some hints about what the proposed changes will be at a speech to the National Press Club last month.
“The anti-corruption commission has within it, in its bill, protections for people who come forward to the anti-corruption commission,” Dreyfus said.
“The Public Interest Disclosure Act is a much wider scheme that doesn’t just deal with allegations of corruption; it deals with any allegation of misconduct, or breach of a code of conduct. Any maladministration in the Commonwealth can potentially be the subject of whistleblowing. Brought forward to your superior and then you’re permitted — it’s the way the scheme works — to go public with your allegation if nothing happens.
“Now, there are some deficiencies identified by Philip Moss. I’m very hopeful that we can pick up those deficiencies, act on his recommendations and bring those reforms to the Parliament in the first part of next year.”
