Most deserving whistleblowers getting no protection: research presentation to 3rd National Whistleblowing Symposium
New analysis from the Whistling While They Work 2 project has been presented to the 3rd Australian National Whistleblowing Symposium, revealing over half of all public interest whistleblowers who experience serious repercussions are receiving no remedies for detriment they suffer — with only 6% receiving any actual compensation, including only 8% of those who lost their job, and only 4% of those assessed by their own superiors as having experienced serious harassment, intimidation or harm.
The analysis is based on over 1,300 whistleblowing cases in 33 organisations—29 of them public sector – as reported by managers and governance professionals who observed or dealt with the cases in their organisation.
Authors Professor A J Brown and Jane Olsen said the findings were “a wake up call for the extent and urgency of reform needed to legal remedies for whistleblowers, as well as consequences for employers who fail to fulfil the promises of protection that employees and the community rightly expect.”
The National Whistleblowing Symposium, co-hosted by the Human Rights Law Centre, also includes:
- A keynote address by the Assistant Minister to the Attorney-General, Queensland Senator Amanda Stoker, on reform of federal public service whistleblower protections
- An update by Australian Securities & Investments Commissioner, Sean Hughes on ASIC’s approach to enforcing new private sector laws
- The launch of a Quick Video Guide to the first ever International Standard on Whistleblowing Management Systems for Organisations (ISO 37002), finalised this year and also informed by the WWTW2 project.
Download the new analysis here.
November 10, 2021