Dreyfus faces international pressure over whistleblowers
International transparency groups are pushing Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus to drop two high-profile whistleblower prosecutions, and have called for better protections for people speaking up against wrongdoing.
The cases of former Tax Office employee Richard Boyle and former military lawyer David McBride are the subject of a new campaign by advocacy group the Whistleblowing International Network.
Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus has been urged to address “injustice caused by these criminal prosecutions”. Alex Ellinghausen
More than 15 member organisations have signed a letter to Mr Dreyfus, calling for him to discontinue the two separate prosecutions, following his move to end the prosecution of lawyer and whistleblower Bernard Collaery.
Mr Boyle spoke publicly in 2018 about aggressive practices by the ATO, including hardline use of garnishee notices, used to claw back tax debts from individuals and business.
Mr McBride is being prosecuted over the alleged leaking a cache of documents detailing possible war crimes in Afghanistan.
“Urgent intervention is needed to address the injustice caused by these criminal prosecutions, to minimise the chilling effect of these cases and to fix Australia’s whistleblowing law to ensure such cases can never happen again,” the group said in a letter.
“As new whistleblower protection legislation has swept the globe in the last decade, Australia’s law has fallen dramatically behind international best practices.
“It is deeply unfair that the Australian government continues to condemn these whistleblowers to their fate, relying on a law that all agree is not fit for purpose.”
Signatories to the letter include Transparency International, Germany’s Whistleblower-Netzwerk and Britain’s SpeakOut SpeakUp. In Australia, the Human Rights Law Centre continues to campaign for the two men.
The advocates have told Mr Dreyfus Australia’s Public Interest Disclosure Act includes legal uncertainty about the scope of the immunity from civil and criminal liability. Changes should also resolve whether protections extend to the obtaining of evidence.
Mr McBride is facing five charges, including over the unauthorised disclosure of information, theft of Commonwealth property and breaching the Defence Act.
Facing a civil case in South Australia, Mr Boyle is seeking protection under the Public Interest Disclosure Act.
Mr Dreyfus has maintained the Collaery case was exceptional, and resisted calls to intervene in other prosecutions.
