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https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/aug/29/australias-federal-whistleblowing-laws-have-not-protected-anyone-since-inception-analysis-shows>
"Australia’s federal whistleblowing laws have not successfully protected a
single person since their inception, an analysis of available court records
suggests.
The Human Rights Law Centre (HRLC) released a report on Tuesday examining 78
court rulings in 70 separate cases in which whistleblowers sought protection
under federal and state whistleblowing regimes.
The report found there had “not been a single successful case … brought by a
whistleblower” under different federal laws designed to protect public or
private sector employees who speak out about wrongdoing.
The report found just 15 cases at a state or territory level where a
whistleblower or a party acting for a whistleblower had been successful – a
rate of about one in five.
One of those successful cases saw a whistleblower awarded just $5,000 for
suffering reprisals following a disclosure. Four involved success in preventing
the disclosure of a whistleblower’s identity, and two related to the ability of
whistleblowers to seek access to documents or information.
The unsuccessful cases showed cases often failed due to an inability to
causally link an act of reprisal to a whistleblower’s decision to speak out.
Whistleblowers were also self-represented in 21 of the unsuccessful cases,
which suggests “access to justice is an acute issue”."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
