Deborah O'Neill (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Innovation) Share this | Hansard source

Labor will not be supporting this amendment. I do want to acknowledge the importance of the report that the senator has been reading from, and I note it has the date of September 2017. The government should have well and truly responded to this very significant issue for the Australian people, but they haven't done so. In the absence of the government's response to that, I think that changes things somewhat, Senator Whish-Wilson. It's unlikely, in our view, that enough case law will develop in the next 12 months in order to conduct the kind of review you were foreshadowing in your comments. We also understand that the amendment as proposed, despite your expressed intention, is not supported by either the government or Centre Alliance.

Clearly, the PJC inquiry into whistleblowing considered how the introduction of a rewards system may assist whistleblowers and how it might work. I well remember those proposals and the briefing that we received on this issue from Professor Brown and many expert witnesses, and we considered the factors that a body administering a rewards scheme should consider when allocating a reward. Great work has already been done. Once again, it's a shame that the government didn't take the opportunity to respond to this report in full. In the absence of that, we are unable to support your amendment this morning, Senator Whish-Wilson.