FEATURE 7Research project—whistling while they work

All Australian parliaments have enacted legislation to provide protection for whistleblowers and internal witnesses to corruption, misconduct and maladministration. The legislation has different titles—Whistleblowers Protection Act (in Queensland, South Australia and Victoria), Protected Disclosures Act (New South Wales), and Public Interest Disclosure Act (Australian Capital Territory, Tasmania and Western Australia). The Commonwealth Public Service Act 1999 (s 16) also contains a provision on 'protection for whistleblowers'.

The Commonwealth Ombudsman's office is collaborating in a three-year, national research project into the management and protection of internal witnesses and whistleblowers in the Australian public sector. The project—Whistling while they work: internal witness management in the Australian public sector—is being led by Griffith University and is jointly funded by the Australian Research Council, six participating universities and fourteen industry partners, including the Commonwealth Ombudsman.

The project aims to identify best-practice strategies for preventing, reducing and addressing reprisals and other whistleblowing-related conflicts in the workplace, by drawing from the experiences and perceptions of internal witnesses and managers.

Representatives of the Commonwealth Ombudsman are on the project steering committee and research team. In 2005–06, the Ombudsman and the Merit Protection Commissioner sent a joint letter to the heads of approximately 140 Australian Government agencies inviting participation in the project's first survey into agency practices and procedures. A survey of agency employees was commenced, involving 30 selected government agencies and approximately 6,000 employees. The project is expected to generate several major reports and papers, with the first to be finalised in 2007.

For more information visit http://www.griffith.edu.au/centre/slrc/whistleblowing.