<
https://theconversation.com/for-the-sake-of-our-democracy-australia-urgently-needs-a-whistleblower-protection-authority-244387>
"As federal parliament rushes to a close, it’s become clearer that a dedicated
agency to enforce the nation’s various whistleblower protection laws will be an
important priority for the 48th parliament, after the next election.
Widely recognised as the biggest missing link in Australia’s national integrity
systems, such a body would support employees who speak up about wrongdoing. It
would also help employers and regulators resolve claims of detrimental action.
Finally, it would help make legal protections real by shouldering the huge
costs of securing compensation for impacts suffered by those doing the right
thing.
This month, the landmark parliamentary inquiry into the PwC scandal, led by
Labor Senator Deborah O'Neill and Green Barbara Pocock, was unanimous in its
clear imperatives for reform:
* Ensuring whistleblower protections apply across all sectors and types of
organisations. Because they are “partnerships” rather than “corporations”,
large audit, accounting and consulting firms are one example of employers that
escape current protections.
* Aligning whistleblower protection laws across the public and private sectors.
The inquiry noted at least ten federal laws provide different, confusing
standards of protection across different entities and sectors.
* Greater practical support for whistleblowers. Key to this is the
establishment of a Whistleblower Protection Authority, covering “both the
public and private sectors”.
These calls should help focus the two efforts the federal government has
underway to review existing laws. The first is a consultation by
Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus on fixing our failing public sector
whistleblowing laws, which is yet to bear fruit. The second is a new statutory
review of the main whistleblowing regimes that apply to the private sectors,
overseen by Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones.
This week, federal independent MPs Andrew Wilkie, Helen Haines, David Pocock
and Jacqui Lambie upped the ante by taking further steps towards their own
Whistleblower Protection Authority bill.
This follows recommendations dating as far back as the Senate Select Committee
on Public Interest Whistleblowing in 1994, and the Parliamentary Joint
Committee on Corporations and Financial Services in 2017."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
