Whistleblower tweaks coming
A key commissioner says Commonwealth whistleblower protection laws need to be enhanced.
Law Enforcement Integrity Commissioner Phillip Moss has told a conference in Canberra this week that authorities are being swamped by minor workplace grievances of public sector employees.
The Commonwealth Ombudsman's office, which oversees the scheme, has given some agreement, saying the “scope and breadth” of issues they have to look at could be re-examined.
Mr Moss is leading a statutory review of the act, and says he has noticed “administrative burden” on the scheme when the leaders of the public service “escalate issues unnecessarily”.
The Public Interest Disclosure Act is designed to give protection to officials who report wrongdoing, corruption or maladministration in the Commonwealth public sector.
Since its launch in 2013, the scheme has attracted 1336 “notifications” of disclosures to agencies or departments, lodged by over 1100 serving or former federal government officials.
Close to 40 per cent of those reports ended up being investigated under other legislation, usually the Public Service Act or Defence Force legislation.
Mr Moss told the conference, organised by the Institute of Public Administration's ACT division, that too many complainants were trying to have minor workplace grievances investigated under the scheme.
He also spoke of the administrative burden that comes from workplace supervisors escalating issues unnecessarily.
He hinted at tweaks to the breadth and scope of the Act’s coverage, as too many complainants try to air minor workplace grievances using the powers of the whistleblower scheme.