Andrew Wilkie (Clark, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

I'm introducing this bill because the community has been waiting three years for the government to enact meaningful reforms to protect whistleblowers, but so far bugger-all has been done and we're all bitterly disappointed.

Labor talked a big game about transparency before forming government, and they point to the National Anti-Corruption Commission as evidence that the job is done. But the reality is that, until we have effective whistleblower protections, the NACC will be diminished because people won't have the confidence to raise allegations. In other words, it's way beyond time for Labor to get serious about transparency and good governance, including by enshrining media freedom laws, meaningfully and not just strategically reforming political donations, legislating truth in political advertising and, vitally, overhauling whistleblower protections.

Where would we be if Toni Hoffman hadn't blown the whistle on Dr Patel at Bundaberg hospital? Or if Allan Kessing hadn't blown the whistle on gaps in security at Sydney airport? Where would we be if Witness K and Bernard Collaery hadn't blown the whistle on the illegal spying on the East Timor parliament building? Or if Alysha hadn't blown the whistle on the shocking criminality within the Tasmanian youth justice system? Where would we be if Chelsea Manning, with Julian Assange and Wikileaks' publication, hadn't blown the whistle on US war crimes, including revealing that grainy video of a US helicopter gunning down Iraqi civilians and Reuters journalists in Iraq?

My point is that whistleblowers make Australia a better place and we should be doing everything we can to support them. Otherwise, we won't have whistleblowers, even though they're so essential to our democracy.

Now some people may recall my own history as a whistleblower over the lies justifying the invasion of Iraq, but also my work exposing misconduct under the protection of parliamentary privilege. For example, there was the evidence I tabled in 2017 of Crown Casino tampering with poker machines and turning a blind eye to family violence and drug use; and the footage of an Aldi bag stuffed with millions of dollars being laundered at the Casino. Then there was the internal report provided to me by the former head of ClubsNSW's anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorism unit, Troy Stolz, which found that up to 95 per cent of registered clubs in New South Wales were non-compliant with anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorism laws. More recently there's the evidence I revealed in the parliament of widespread fraud within the Australian export coal industry; the thousands of documents I tabled showing misuse of funds by Hillsong Church; and the dangerous and secret drug testing being conducted by the AFL.

But parliamentary privilege should only be used as a last resort, because better still would be for our laws, practices and agencies to actually work. But in my experience, they don't, which is why whistleblowers don't feel safe to speak out themselves and often come to me instead.

If you want hard evidence that our whistleblower protection legislation doesn't work then just look at the case of Richard Boyle, the former Australian Taxation Office official who faces the prospect of life in prison for revealing information about egregious behaviour within the Australian Taxation Office, information which has been proven to be correct. I'll say that again. Richard Boyle revealed information about appalling misconduct within the ATO, information which has been found to be true, and it is he who faces prison time.

And then there's David McBride, the former Australian Army lawyer who provided the ABC with documents containing information about Australian soldiers committing war crimes in Afghanistan, which led to the ABC's publication The Afghan Files in 2017. And again, despite these allegations being backed up by the horrific findings of the Brereton report, it is David McBride, the whistleblower, who was the first person to front court, and indeed the first person to be convicted of any crime. David is currently serving a five-year and eight-month jail sentence for revealing this horrific wrongdoing. This is just baffling.

Clearly, we desperately need to reform our whistleblowing laws. Clearly the Public Interest Disclosure Actin particular,as well as the whistleblower protections in the Corporations Act, need to be completely overhauled, which is something Labor, and specifically the Attorney-General, committed to doing before forming Government in 2022.

But that wouldn't be the end of it, because another yawning gap is the means to facilitate whistleblowing in a practical sense, by establishing a whistleblower protection authority, which is what this bill I'm introducing today would do. Such an agency is long overdue and is something the Labor Party actually promised before the 2019 election.

As the title suggests, this bill would establish an independent statutory authority responsible for providing information, advice, assistance, guidance and support to whistleblowers and potential whistleblowers.

The authority would consist of a whistleblower protection commissioner, deputy commissioners, a chief executive officer and appropriately experienced and trained staff. It would be empowered to receive and facilitate the investigation of whistleblower disclosures; assist whistleblowers and potential whistleblowers; investigate the mistreatment of whistleblowers; and undertake enforcement activities as necessary. Importantly, the authority would conduct research and policy work in relation to the efficacy of Australia's whistleblower protection laws, and would monitor, educate and advise on how to prevent detrimental actions against whistleblowers.

The bill would also establish a Whistleblower Protection Advisory Board to provide advice to the commissioner and the Parliamentary Joint Committee on the Whistleblower Protection Authority to appoint the commissioner, and to monitor and review the performance of the commissioner.

This bill has been drafted in consultation with experts who specialise in whistleblower protections, and in particular I would like to thank Kieran Pender and Madeleine Howle from the Human Rights Law Centre and Professor A J Brown from Griffith University, who is also Chair of Transparency International Australia.

My crossbench colleagues and I are ready to work collaboratively with the government and opposition to reform our country's whistleblower protection framework, and it starts today with this bill. So I urge them to get on board and support it and, in doing so, to finally demonstrate that they really do recognise whistleblowers as an essential building block of a healthy democracy and society. Whistleblowers actually are the heroes here, not the villains. In my remaining time, I'd like to invite the member for Indi to say a few words.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the motion seconded?

Helen Haines (Indi, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm very proud to second this bill from the member for Clark today, who has been a champion for whistleblowers for the whole time that he has been in this place.

Whistleblowers are vital to a healthy democracy. They play a significant role in exposing serious wrongdoing by politicians, by government agencies and by corporations. And just in the last few years, whistleblowers have helped reveal the harmful and unlawful robodebt scheme, elder abuse in the aged-care sector and the PwC scandal, just to name a few. In the PwC case, confidential government information was used to help private clients avoid paying tax.

When whistleblowers make the hard decision—and it is a hard decision, a risky decision—to speak out about wrongdoing such as this, we, all of us, need to have their back. But right now Australia's whistleblower protection laws are broken. Brave people who speak up about war crimes or corruption are facing criminal charges and even prison. And as the member for Clark just noted, right now, on foot, is the case with Richard Boyle. Mr Boyle helped expose the Australian Taxation Office's unethical practices of seizing money directly from taxpayers accounts without regard for that person's circumstances, such as whether they are women escaping domestic violence or small business owners with serious health issues. It was just appalling. And for this decision, Mr Boyle is now facing prosecution and potentially jail.

The courts—this is the bit that is amazing—have accepted that 'Mr Boyle is a whistleblower as the term is commonly understood', and yet our whistleblower protection laws are so flimsy that he has no protection. This is why we so desperately need the promise fulfilled by this Albanese government to establish a whistleblower protection authority to help future people come forward. Right now there are everyday Australians out there potentially wanting to blow the whistle, and we need them to, but they take a grave risk in doing so.

A whistleblower protection authority will support and protect whistleblowers and potential whistleblowers by being that much needed one-step shop. Furthermore, as the member for Clark has said, a whistleblower protection authority would assist us in the prevention of corruption in the first place. We need it and we need it now.

We need comprehensive whistleblower protection reform. In 2019, Labor promised to establish a whistleblower protection authority. The clock has been ticking for three years. We're rapidly facing an election and it's nowhere to be seen. We need the crossbench to push on this.

Debate adjourned.