Page 3367 - Week 08 - Thursday, 23 August 2012
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regarded in the then police culture as so bizarre that the police commissioner ordered that he undergo a psychiatric examination. It was later disclosed that the commissioner had personally rung the psychiatrist at the Prince Henry Hospital, who noted on his report, “Possible political expediency in bringing pressure to bear on patient’s admission.”
Over a decade later Arantz was exonerated, notionally reinstated in the force and given an ex gratia payment. Later, after the change in the culture of the force brought about in large measure as a result of Jim Wood’s royal commission, he was posthumously awarded the police commissioner’s commendation for outstanding service.
Today’s bill represents the continual evolution of the change in culture demonstrated in that story. This bill will take one of the worst public interest disclosure schemes and turn it into one of the best in the country. We know this is the case because Australia’s undoubted expert on whistleblower laws, Professor AJ Brown, has told us that, and we have had discussions with him. Members will, of course, be aware that Professor Brown was responsible for the whistling while they work project that undertook a comprehensive analysis of all Australian public interest disclosure laws and made extensive recommendations for the creation of best practice whistleblower laws.
As the size of the government grows and the role it fulfils increases in complexity, it is inevitable that, just as is the case for any large institution, there will be times when things go wrong. At the times when this happens we rely on the integrity of public servants to speak up to prevent wrongdoing. Given this is the case, we should have a scheme in place to protect those who are prepared to stand up and speak out against those things they think should not be happening where they see there may be some corruption, some wrongdoing.
The Greens have long advocated for public interest disclosure reforms. We included it in the parliamentary agreement with the government, and we are extremely pleased that we are able to realise the reforms. Public interest disclosure laws are a very important mechanism for public accountability and operate in conjunction with other accountability mechanisms to ensure that we have a robust framework. These are very significant reforms and follow on from similar reforms in other jurisdictions, essentially picking up on all the best elements to ensure that we have the best possible scheme here in the ACT.
I think the government has had a good approach to these reforms. An exposure draft was released, and the Greens are very pleased the government has responded to the concerns we related to them through a submission we put in to that process. Having said that, this bill is the best available to us. Certainly there are more issues that need to be addressed, but I think we have put our best efforts into this bill at this stage. It is important that we get this right. We need to make sure people do not suffer when they stand up to do the right thing.
Although it is no fault of the ACT’s, the bill does not provide an adequate compensation mechanism. Recourse is left to the common law and civil action in the courts. This is an expensive and potentially risky path which existing experience from
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