Whistleblowers United

An article in this months " The Monthly" magazine by Kieran Pender titled " Whistling in the dark" is of course full of information pertaining to the ongoing debacle of whistleblowers who are prepared to stand on their ideals.

The "Public interest disclosure act" which is a protection law for federal public servants in Australia is broken. Recent high profile cases clearly have demonstrated this situation.

Firstly there is the case of David Mc Bride giving documents to the national broadcaster resulting in the in a programme titled "Afghan Files".Now serving a sentence of about six years with a non parole period of two years and three months for being critical of the ADF leadership. Whatever eventuated,Mc Bride was a whistleblower speaking out for wrong- doing and should have been treated as such.

Then there is the case of Richard Boyle described as a tax whistleblower who is still facing trial for exposing tax office practices,issuing garnishee notices on taxpayer accounts, without proper regard for individual taxpayer circumstances. All of this was at least questionable.

The crux of this matter is that freedom of speech is being constantly undermined which-ever political party is in government. A quote from the aforementioned article by lawyer "Jennifer Robinson" follows "I think it's important that everyone continues to rally around the free speech issues" that prevail at this time.

The Labor Party in the lead-up to the 2019 election, promised to establish a whistleblower protection authority if elected. Now the government is only promising to consider whether such a body is needed. Both sides, when in opposition promise to act for transparency and free speech but once elected, find these matters inconvenient.

With a parliament staffed by individual, independent members answerable to their own electorates and not parties, freedom of speech and information will become the norm.

There should never be a need to hide or disguise the truth from we. the people.

www.movementforbettergovernment.com.au