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Last updated: October 1997
Barton Flyer 1997/6: Public interest whistleblowing - Provisional advice to agencies
Please note: This document is for reference purposes only and is no longer considered by the APS Commission to be current. It may contain good practice advice and/or advice on the transitional arrangements between the 1922 and 1999 Public Service Acts.
In the short time since the Public Service Bill 1997 was introduced into the Parliament on 26 June, much has happened. I and other members of the Commission have been around the country explaining what the Bill will mean for agencies, once it becomes law. Regulations and Commissioner's Directions are being drafted. The Joint Committee on Public Accounts (JCPA) has considered and reported on the Bill.
In relation to whistleblowing, the JCPA recommended that the government consider introducing separate whistleblowers protection legislation along similar lines to that which already exists for the public sector in other Australian jurisdictions. The Committee decided, however, not to recommend changes to the whistleblowing provisions contained in the Public Service Bill.
Many agencies are already planning for a New Employment Framework that can be developed within the Workplace Relations Act, the new financial legislation and the Public Service Bill 1997.
I have indicated that the Commission will be supporting this framework with advice that will differ from our traditional approach, and will draw heavily on consultations with agencies. It will set out the legal requirements, provide some guiding principles and, where possible, identify good practice. Because Parliament is still considering the Bill, we can only provide provisional advice at this stage.
When Parliament completes its consideration of the Bill, these advices will be reissued in a revised format which takes account of the Parliamentary consideration and any further feedback that we receive from you.
Thanks to the extremely useful inputs from those agencies that took part in focus groups and later discussions, we are now able to publish provisional advice on Public Interest Whistleblowing. I appreciate your contributions and look forward to providing you with provisional advice on further topics in the series.
Dr Peter Shergold
Public Service Commissioner
