Australian Human Rights Centre Advocates Protection For Whistleblowers

The Human Rights Law Centre in Australia is really pushing for better protection for people who speak up about wrong things happening in the government. These people are called whistleblowers. The Law Centre says that it’s a basic human right to speak out like this.

Whistleblowers are individuals who expose information or activities within a private, public, or government organization that are deemed illegal, unethical, or not correct.

Whistleblowers can be employees, former employees, contractors, or even clients of the organization. They often take significant personal risks in reporting these issues, as they can face retaliation, loss of their job, legal action, or social stigma.

The Human Rights Law Centre has told the Federal Attorney-General’s Department, which is a big part of the government, that they need to totally change the Public Interest Disclosure Act. This is the law that’s supposed to protect these whistleblowers. Right now, they think it’s not doing a good job.

The Law Centre also thinks there should be a special group or authority just for protecting whistleblowers. This is to make sure Australia stays an open and honest country.

They believe that letting whistleblowers speak up is part of human rights. It’s about being free to share opinions and tell the truth. Whistleblowers have been really important in pointing out human rights abuses around the world.

Also, these protections are part of Australia’s duty to fight corruption under an international agreement called the United Nations Convention against Corruption.

The Law Centre says that the current laws aren’t working well. Whistleblowers are still facing risks, like getting punished or even taken to court, just for telling the truth. They want big changes to the law.

The Attorney-General of Australia, Mark Dreyfus, is thinking about making new laws for this. Last year, they already made some changes to help protect whistleblowers better. But now, they’re looking into maybe creating a special group or person to look after whistleblower protection.

Kieran Pender, a senior lawyer at the Law Centre, is urging the Attorney-General to be strong in making these changes. 

He says Australia should be a place that supports people who stand up and talk about wrongdoing. He thinks that without good laws to protect whistleblowers, bad things and secrecy will keep happening. 

There’s also a review happening soon about how private companies in Australia protect whistleblowers. Plus, they’re looking into Australia’s secrecy laws, which is about keeping things hidden, and they might change those laws too.