Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

ator WATT (—) (): Thank you, Senator Pocock, for the question. I can certainly assure Senator Pocock and the whole chamber that the Attorney-General is strongly of the view that integrity and the rule of law are central to Australia's criminal justice arrangements. The Attorney-General's power to discontinue proceedings is reserved for very unusual and exceptional circumstances.

Senator Pocock referred to two cases: Mr McBride and Mr Boyle. As their proceedings remain ongoing, it is obviously inappropriate to comment further on the particulars of their matters; however, I do note that the government is committed more broadly to delivering strong, effective and accessible protections for whistleblowers. The government has already delivered priority amendments to the Public Interest Disclosure Act and will commence a second, broader stage of reforms, which will include public consultation on broader reforms to the Public Interest Disclosure Act to provide effective and accessible protections to public sector whistleblowers and address the underlying complexity of the scheme. It will also, as part of that consultation, address the need for additional support for public sector whistleblowers, such as a whistleblower protection authority or commissioner.

The government is delivering on its commitment to ensure that Australia has effective frameworks to protect whistleblowers, which are critical to supporting integrity and the rule of law. Reforms to the Public Interest Disclosure Act are long overdue, and significant reform is required to restore the act to a scheme that provides strong protection for public sector whistleblowers.

Senator Pocock, as I say, I'm not really able to comment on the individual proceedings that you've mentioned, and we'll obviously wait to see how they play out in the courts. But, as I say, we do very much believe in protection for whistleblowers, and already, in our first 16 months, we've begun work on some major reforms to strengthen those protections.