The Australian Government has passed sweeping new federal whistleblower laws which will make the nation’s protections among some of the best in the world, according to the Senator who introduced them. Currently, Australia’s whistleblower laws offer protection to only a narrow category of employees, and only for a narrow category of disclosures. In the private sector, whistleblowers are only entitled to protection when their disclosure relate to violations of specific pieces of legislation, such as the Corporations Act. However, a new set of laws passed yesterday will expand protections for whistleblowers ‘across the board’ to award equal protection to those in both public and private institutions, including those working within unions.

Major changes

‘These amendments, if passed, will see Australia go from some of the worst whistleblower protection laws in the world to arguably the best,’ said Nick Xenophon Team Senator Nick Xenophon during the Senate debate on the legislation. Among those most notable changes will be expanding the category of person who can make protected disclosures to include former employees and those contracted by an organisation and expanding the types of conduct to which a person can make protected disclosures (to include, for example, threatening conduct and omissions). Whistleblowers will also have access to a wider range of remedies, including injunctions and apologies, and authorities will be required to investigate all disclosures within 90 days.

Politically contentious

The new whistleblower laws were introduced as a rider by Senator Xenophon and Independent Senator Derryn Hinch, who offered to back the Coalition on a major industrial relations bill so long as the whistleblower laws were included. The Registered Organisations Bill, which aims to increase transparency and accountability among Australia’s unions by bringing them under stricter regulatory oversight, was one of the bills that triggered Australia’s double dissolution election in July.

Lawyers welcome change

Law Society of Australia president Stuart Clark AM said the passage of the new whistleblower laws was an important and positive development: ‘Protection for whistleblowers exists in the Public Interest Disclosures Act 2013, but the Act only applied to former and current public officials,’ he said. ‘These crossbench amendments now mean that vital whistleblower protection is now moving beyond the public sphere and finding its way into the non-government and private sector. This is why the new legislation is so important.’

Sources: Australasian Lawyer; ABC News; The Australian; Business Insider Australia