By Lianzi Fields | Sydney, Australia

Changes to existing NSW laws mean that whistleblowers will be able to seek compensation for unlawful reprisals. Image: Vierdrie

The leading national association for whistleblowers has slammed the Premier’s announced changes to whistleblower protection laws currently before the NSW Parliament.

National Secretary of Whistleblowers Australia Inc., Cynthia Kardell, believes that proposals to double criminal penalties for unlawful reprisal actions are not enough to stop corruption and malpractice in the public sector.

“The measures are insufficient given that the likelihood of the State, through the Department of Public Prosecutions, criminally prosecuting one of their own is not very high.

“They’re welcome changes, but really, they’ve fiddled around at the edges of the legislation and in the end have set up systems that have a lot of room to do nothing,” she said.

On 22 September 2010, the Premier, Kristina Kenneally, announced the proposed reforms to whistleblower protection laws which seek to redress the shortcomings of the Protected Disclosures Act 1994.

“This is about ensuring public officials can come forward and report information about corrupt conduct or maladministration within the public sector without fear, knowing they are protected by the law,” said the Premier.

Under the new bill, whistleblowers are now able to seek compensation for unlawful reprisal by employers, with criminal penalties for such action including an $11,000 fine or up to two years imprisonment, or both.

To date, no person has successfully been criminally prosecuted in NSW for reprisal action taken against a whistleblower since the legislation first came into force.

The bill also addresses major recommendations made by the NSW parliamentary inquiry into the Act last year, including extending protections to independent contractors of public authorities.

But amendments to the Act do not include further reforms suggested by the Commonwealth including that protection be extended to also cover volunteers.

Dr A J Cook, is a senior lecturer at Griffith Law School and project leader for the ‘Whistling While They Work’ national study into the management and protections of whistleblowers in the Australian public sector.

Cook acknowledged that there were distinct gaps in the legislation, saying: “The laws will make a difference, but clearly NSW is still languishing behind national and international best practice, especially in two or three key areas.”

“For example, Queensland have just passed amendments to their whistleblower protection laws where the media and their sources are now protected under the legislation, whereas the NSW laws in this area have remained the same.

“It’s a notional step forward, but another step needs to be taken, and I’m hoping there are a number of improvements that are made to this bill before it’s passed in Parliament,” he said.

Since the 2007 State election, over half of the NSW Labor frontbench have resigned or been sacked, with four ministers in the last four months quitting over scandals in NSW.

In June this year the Premier was also under investigation over alleged breaches to State whistleblower laws, for which she was later cleared.

The NSW Ombudsman’s Office refused to comment on whether the push for changes to whistleblower laws is seeking to clean up the Government’s image before the election next March.

The Ombudsman has been charged with greater oversight powers to handle complaints by whistleblowers, and leads the Protected Disclosures Steering Committee which has now been given statutory basis under the amendment bill.

A representative from the Ombudsman’s Office said it was always difficult to predict whether the new laws would actually prompt whistleblowers to come forward.

But Kardell maintains that the amendment bill is not providing enough encouragement for those thinking about exposing wrongdoing in the public sector.

“Life is full of people who do the wrong thing, and those who know about it but don’t do anything, which is just as bad,” she said.

“We need stronger protections for people who do the right thing.”