Help for the whistleblower
Whistleblowers are usually punished for doing the right thing. Most organisations dislike those who point out their flaws. The habit of blaming the whistleblower occurs everywhere, in government and in private organisations.
And this is exactly what happened at the Ministry of Transport, where the ‘‘highly manipulative’’ fraudster Joanne Harrison sought revenge on the whistleblowers who had complained about her. This was a dreadful business and it also shows some serious problems with the current whistleblowers’ legislation.
State Services Commissioner Peter Hughes has rightly apologised to the ‘‘salt of the earth’’ officials victimised by Harrison, and they will get compensation.
That is the least that can be done to put right the wrongs they suffered.
The deeper question is how to change the system so that similar injustices don’t occur again. Hughes rightly points out the flaws in the system and the faults in the 17-year-old Protected Disclosures Act.
A joint trans-Tasman report by Victoria University and Australian experts on workplace whistleblowing has shown that Australia is well ahead of New Zealand. The investigation showed that 30 per cent of New Zealand public sector agencies had no particular system for recording and tracking whistleblowers’ concerns, and only did so ‘‘when the need arose’’. Australian agencies had this lackadaisical approach only half as often.
Hughes is trying to get government chief executives to change their ways, setting up ‘‘clear, easily accessible systems’’ for officials to raise concerns. It’s obvious that most civil servants don’t know what the systems are. Until they do, would-be whistleblowers will be in the dark and will all too likely be punished for what they do. Hughes has recommended to the Government that the legislation be updated, although it’s not clear exactly how this should be done. The task, however, is urgent. Otherwise the slack and ad hoc status quo will continue.
Harrison is a tough case for any system. She was an accomplished and sophisticated liar and was totally unscrupulous in carrying out her fraud. People like her are genuinely rare and are by definition hard to detect.
But all systems must be built to handle the hard case, and here an effective whistleblowers’ system is essential.
The havoc wrought by Harrison has raised serious questions about whether Martin Matthews, the then transport boss and now Auditor-General, dealt with the problem properly. The latest revelations only underline the importance of the investigation now being done into Matthews’ role. He, like many other government CEOs, presided over a clearly inadequate system for protecting whistleblowers. Whether he was too slow in responding to their complaints remains an open question. His future as Auditor-General clearly hinges on the answer.
Whistleblowers are essential in any system, and they need not only to be protected but also heeded.
Fairfax NZ