Australians overwhelmingly believe that whistleblowers make Australia a better place and should be protected, not prosecuted, finds new research by The Australia Institute and the Human Rights Law Centre.

The new polling is being released to coincide with the United Nations’ World Press Freedom Day and comes as pressure builds on Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus KC to implement comprehensive reforms to whistleblower protections and discontinue the prosecutions of whistleblowers Richard Boyle and David McBride.

Key Findings:

• Three in four (76%) say whistleblowers make Australia a better place.
• An overwhelming majority of Australians (84%) support stronger legal protection for whistleblowers.
• Most Australians think that the government is too secretive about how it deals with allegations of corruption (60%) and how it spends money (51%).
• Four in five (79%) support the introduction of an Australian whistleblower protection authority.
• A majority of Australians think the government should intervene to end the prosecution of whistleblowers Boyle (71%) and McBride (64%).
• Since the Australia Institute last polled on this issue in November 2021, perceptions of whistleblowers have remained largely consistent, and in some respects increased.

Kieran Pender, Senior Lawyer at the Human Rights Law Centre says:

“Whistleblowers and journalists play a critical role in exposing wrongdoing and ensuring accountability in Australian public life.

“But press freedom is significantly undermined when whistleblowers are on trial for telling the truth to the media, and whistleblowing laws offer weak protections that aren’t working in practice.

“The Albanese Government must drop the prosecutions, fix the law and establish a whistleblower protection authority.”

Bill Browne, Director of Democracy and Accountability at The Australia Institute says:

“It’s clear that Australians want whistleblowers to be better protected, not punished. Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus did the right thing when he dropped the prosecution of Bernard Collaery, but he has unfinished business: the unjust and cruel prosecutions of Richard Boyle and David McBride.

“There is something broken in Australia’s legal system when large corporations get a slap on the wrist for leaking confidential government information to multinational clients, but whistleblowers exposing alleged war crimes or unfair treatment of small businesses face years of jail time.

“The National Anti-Corruption Commission is a great accomplishment, but it must go further if it is going to effectively root out corruption. Along with an independent oversight committee and public hearings when they are in the public interest, we need a whistleblower protection authority.”

Read the polling data from The Australia Institute and Human Rights Law Centre

Media contact:
Thomas Feng
Media and Communications Manager
Human Rights Law Centre
0431 285 275 thomas.feng@hrlc.org.au