The latest OECD assessment of anti-bribery measures that reveals weak protection for whistleblowers in Australia strengthens the Greens call for employees in the private sector to have the same protection as those in the public sector, Australian Greens spokesperson for democracy Senator Lee Rhiannon said.
“In December last year the Greens called for whistleblower protection to be extended to employees working for private higher education companies in receipt of millions of dollars of government funding,” Senator Rhiannon said.
“Today we are again urging the Abbott government to adopt greater whistleblower protection in the private sector.
“A report prepared by Transparency International Australia last year found that Australia falls seriously short of its commitments to protect whistleblowers in the private sector.
“The recent OECD report reaffirms those findings, and reveals Australia is lagging behind other countries including Canada and the United States.
“In recent months we have seen private education companies collect millions of dollars in public funding. We have also seen whistleblowers employed at private education companies receive inadequate legal protections when attempting to call out potentially fraudulent activity.
“As a first step towards a broader whistleblower protection regime, the Greens are working to ensure that public and private whistleblower protections in the higher education sector are equally robust,” Senator Rhiannon said.