PDC: Whistleblower working group

Draft Policy This is a draft policy which may still be under development and is not approved or endorsed by the party. Until such time as it is endorsed by the party, it does not represent the views or intentions of the party.

This Working Group (WG) was established by the Policy Development Committee (PDC) on 23 January 2013.

Working group report

This working group was tasked with developing policy relating to the protection of whistleblowers. The working group was chaired by David Crafti and will present the following policy text to the February 20 PDC meeting.

Recommendation

As per the MAUT decision table for the Whistleblower Protection Working Group, this working group recommends the adoption of the full text of the Public Interest Disclosure (Whistleblower Protection) Bill 2012 with some additional clauses inserted to ensure this policy is fully compliant with PPAU values.

Preamble

Public integrity relies on the ability to swiftly identify and manage wrongdoing and corruption. Whistleblowers are an essential part of this capacity, and an important check on the behavior of governments. Persons must have the capacity and willingness to speak out when an element of the government is acting contrary to law or policy, or contrary to the expectations of the electorate. However, this important accountability mechanism is undermined by inadequate protection for whistleblowers, who often face harsh and inappropriate punishment and covert forms of deterrence[1]. In order to provide essential accountability, adequate protections are needed to ensure that whistleblowers may act safely, without fear of undue reprisal, and with reasonable confidence that wrongs will be righted with minimal delay.

Sensitive operational state secrets such as active police investigations may require protection. However this protection should not cover material which is merely embarrassing to the government of the day.

Policy text

The Pirate Party proposes new measures to safeguard the well-being and function of whistleblowers.

Provide new protections for whistleblowers.

• Adopt the Public Interest Disclosure (Whistleblower Protection) Bill 2012 in full.
• Add additional measures to build in further protection to all parties:
  • Indemnity will be provided to third parties involved in the disclosure of information
  • An intermediary system will be created allowing for anonymous disclosures. This will include a mechanism allowing whistleblowers to remain in regular, anonymous contact with investigative authorities
  • Allowances will be included for expedited data preservation orders. Such orders will include a provision allowing them to take effect before a disclosure is made in cases where credible risk exists that evidence might be destroyed.
  • Provisions will be included to allow for disclosure of irrelevant information, where such information forms part of a larger document whose disclosure in complete form is necessary to preserve the quality of evidence.

[1] http://www.whistleblowers.org.au/whistleblowersstories.html

Got feedback or suggestions? Send us an email at [email protected].

[MAUT table link]

Meeting Schedule

This working group has concluded the drafting process and no further meetings are currently scheduled.

Previous Minutes

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