Dorinda Cox (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I rise in obvious support of the motion that my colleague Senator Shoebridge brings before the chamber today. We know that we urgently need to fix our whistleblower laws. Our parliament supposedly has a progressive majority, so we should be able to make the changes that will protect whistleblowers in the future. Senator Shoebridge has articulated many cases, and, in moving this motion today, he has spoken at length about those cases. The current lack of action sends the wrong message to whistleblowers.

Polling shows that people do understand the need for whistleblowers and the need to keep them safe from persecution. The community absolutely values transparency. Whether it is in government or in other big institutions across this country, they value transparency and they value the truth. The continuing prosecution of whistleblowers goes against this tenor. It drives a stake right into the heart of those community values, saying, 'We don't think that they're important,' when we are capable of protecting whistleblowers, who are in fact trying to protect the truth.

The shared idea of the truth is fundamental to our democracy. We have nothing to talk about if we can't agree on a basic fact: when people are persecuted for telling the truth, our society is undermined at a fundamental level, because we can't even admit to the truth. We can't even admit that the community values the truth.

In today's Australia, whistleblowers are being persecuted, they're being sacked, they're being slandered and they are even being driven to suicide by government agencies and corporations in this country who seek to protect themselves from scrutiny. And, as Senator Shoebridge said, they're also being put in jail. All the while, our government talks about the contribution that whistleblowers make. The difference between the rhetoric and the reality is absolutely outstanding. It's gobsmacking.

As our laws currently stand, whistleblowers have very, very few protections. When the laws that currently exist are put under pressure by our legislators, who don't understand, in fact, the contribution that whistleblowers make, we have to defend the existing protections and shore them up with new laws. It is incumbent that we do that here in this place. It's why we are the elected representatives. The Albanese Labor government chose not to intervene in the shameful prosecution of David McBride, who now faces a long prison sentence. This prosecution should never have taken place in the first place. The laws that allow for prosecution must be changed. The government must do more than just talking about protecting whistleblowers, because talking about it is doing nothing. They must actively intervene when necessary. We saw the government intervention making a difference in the Assange case. Why was David McBride thrown to the wolves? How is that different? Oh, that's right—it was about war crimes.

My own office in my home state of Western Australia has been contacted by people, particularly in the state government department, who are living in fear after telling the truth about their employers. The issues can include a lack of cultural safety at work, discrimination and outright persecution from the people in power. What comes through is this sense of: 'There is no-one to talk to. I have no protection as a whistleblower.' A lack of independent oversight means that whistleblowers are supposed to report bad behaviour to the very people who are involved in that bad behaviour. How is that for irony? This kind of thing is a problem at every level of government and, in fact, in many large institutions across this country, including businesses and corporations.

A case for strong protections and for more independent oversight is easy to make, which only makes the lack of action more infuriating for those who truly know the truth. The Greens will continue to do everything we can to keep this issue at the forefront of the public debate until we see action.