“Today’s failure of the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee to unambiguously support the creation of a Whistleblower Protection Authority (WPA) is obviously disappointing,” Independent Member for Clark Andrew Wilkie said.
“At best the Labor and Liberal parties just want to continue to bumble along in much the same way they did for decades until the Federal Government finally created the half-baked Public Interest Disclosure Act in 2013. At worst they are continuing to resist transparency in their well-worn tradition of secrecy and unchallenged authority.
“Sure, the Whistleblower Protection Authority Bill 2025 could be improved. But to recommend that something as important as a WPA can wait, and even then only as a bit-piece of an amended Public Interest Disclosure Act, is to dismiss the proposed WPA as not being very valuable or important. It’s also to say that whoever’s in government is happy to keep throwing brave whistleblowers to the wolves, or to at least continue to try and throw them in jail.
“The fact remains that whistleblowing is diabolically difficult in Australia. And until whistleblowers are well advised and effectively supported, they will continue to suffer personally, and egregious misconduct will continue to stay secret.”