Page 3368 - Week 08 - Thursday, 23 August 2012
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around Australia already shows is rarely taken up. The Greens’ view is that whistleblower protection should be properly embedded in Australian workplace relations law so that the bulk of whistleblowers, who are employees, can have more effective access to appropriate remedies, including compensation for any detriment suffered as a result of speaking up. The research that helped inform this bill shows that a current best-practice approach on this issue would be the one that matches the compensation mechanisms which have been available to whistleblowers in the United Kingdom under the Employment Relations Act for well over a decade—in fact, I think since 1998. Under current workplace relations arrangements, federal action is required before ACT public employees have access to such remedies.
I think support for today’s bill should also include support from the ACT for commonwealth reform and that we should all actively pursue the issue with our federal colleagues to complete the final part of the necessary reforms. We note that when the House of Representatives Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee reported on the need for a comprehensive federal whistleblower protection regime in 2009 it recommended that making a public interest disclosure should be recognised as a workplace right under the new commonwealth Fair Work Act with all the remedial provisions that would carry. Now that the federal government is also planning amendments to the Fair Work Act 2009 it would seem the perfect time to examine how federal whistleblowing legislation can use the workplace relations system to help deliver this vital protection.
Mr Speaker, as I said, the Greens very strongly support the bill today. The process that has led to the reforms is a very good example of a consultative process that has well utilised the expertise available to us. The end product is one that we should be very pleased with and one which I am very confident will ultimately improve executive accountability and reduce wrongdoing and inefficiency.
The Greens have three relatively small amendments to the bill to improve the operation of it, and I understand those will be supported. As I said, the Greens are very supportive of this measure and are extremely pleased that this bill is being debated and will pass today.
MS GALLAGHER (Molonglo—Chief Minister, Minister for Health and Minister for Territory and Municipal Services) (12.13): I thank members for their contributions to the debate.
Transparency and accountability are central to a robust democracy, and the bill before us today plays a significant role in enhancing the integrity framework of the ACT government. It is vital that we have an effective system for encouraging the reporting of wrongdoing in the ACT public sector. The Public Interest Disclosure Bill 2012 replaces the current outdated legislation and creates a best practice model for managing disclosures and protecting genuine whistleblowers.
When this bill was introduced in June the Deputy Chief Minister, on my behalf, assured members that some of the most experienced minds in this country with regard to whistleblowing have contributed to the final form of this bill. Griffith University’s Dr AJ Brown, one of Australia’s leading whistleblowing researchers and thinkers on
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