Labor to boost whistleblower protections in last sitting fortnight of parliamentary year
Labor will move to boost whistleblower protections by introducing a new bill in the final sitting fortnight of the 2022 parliament, the attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, has revealed.
The Albanese government will introduce amendments to deliver “immediate improvements” to whistleblowing laws ahead of a fuller review in 2023, Dreyfus will tell an anti-corruption conference in Sydney on Wednesday.
The draft legislation, approved by cabinet on Monday, paves the way for stronger whistleblower protections to be in place by the time the national anti-corruption commission (Nacc) is due to opens its doors in mid-2023.
Labor committed before the election to update and “act on” the recommendations of the 2016 Moss review of the Public Interest Disclosure Act.
Throughout negotiations on Nacc, Dreyfus has assured transparency stakeholders and crossbench MPs who have called for stronger whistleblower protections that these can be implemented in separate legislation to coincide with the launch of the commission.
In a speech – seen by Guardian Australia – to be delivered at the Australian Public Sector Anti-Corruption Conference, Dreyfus says the government is “committed to ensuring that Australia has effective protections for whistleblowers”.
“I am delighted therefore to announce that I will introduce a bill into the parliament before the end of this year which will make priority amendments to the Public Interest Disclosure Act,” he says.
“These amendments deliver on the government’s election commitment to implement key recommendations of the 2016 review of the Public Interest Disclosure Act by Philip Moss AM and other parliamentary committee reports.”
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The Moss review called for a “positive obligation” to support disclosers and witnesses involved in whistleblowing complaints, in addition to the obligation to protect disclosers from detriment.
Witnesses should receive the same protections from reprisal, civil, criminal and administrative liability as a discloser, it said.
The Moss review also called for the act to be amended to allow disclosure of security classified information (other than intelligence information) to a lawyer to get advice about a public interest disclosure.
Dreyfus does not specify which of the 33 recommendations will be deemed “priority amendments” but commits to ensuring “immediate improvements to the public sector whistleblower scheme are in place before the Nacc commences in mid-2023”.
Dreyfus promises a second stage of reforms in 2023 including “redrafting the Public Interest Disclosure Act to address the underlying complexity of the scheme and provide effective and accessible protections to public sector whistleblowers”.
Details of the bill will be released after it passes caucus next week before it is introduced in the final sitting week of the year.
The Morrison government accepted “in whole or in part” 30 of the Moss review’s 33 recommendations – but Dreyfus said in July it “failed to act” by legislating them.
The national anti-corruption commission bill, which contains its own provisions for whistleblowers, is expected to pass parliament in the final sitting fortnight after a consensus report suggested only minor changes.
Crossbench MPs and parties indicated they would seek to improve but not block the bill, including a push to lower the threshold for public hearings by removing the “exceptional circumstances” test.
Last week, the independent MP Helen Haines, the deputy chair of the inquiry and architect of the crossbench integrity commission bill in the last parliament, said whistleblower protections were “an area of enormous concern” to her.
“The success of this national anticorruption commission is completely … contingent upon strong whistleblower protection laws.
“One of the key elements in ensuring people feel safe coming forward to something such as the Nacc is we have a safe house for them to do so.”