Australia considers national security whistleblowing

The Australian Law Reform Commission recommended that national security whistleblowers should face criminal sanctions only when their disclosures, "damage national security, interfere with an investigation and endanger someone's life or safety." The Commission also recommended that a new law create an offense of unauthorized disclosure only in these circumstances.

Today Australia's Attorney-General, Robert McClelland, tabled the recommendation in Parliament so that the government could review it.  The recommendation follows a 2005 disclosure by retired customs officer Allan Kessing about security breaches at Sydney Airport. Kessing was charged with disclosing information without due authorization. He made his disclosure to an opposition member of Parliament and it was published in a periodical two years later. The Herald Sun reports on the action in today's edition.

 

International Whistleblower News (November 23, 2009)

[Canada] MacCharles, Tonda, Richard Colvin: Portrait of a whistleblower, theStar.com, November 21, 2009.

Talk to people who know Richard Colvin and a few key traits emerge. Driven, committed to Canada's mission in Afghanistan. Knows his stuff. Takes copious notes. Sociable, yet discreet. Above all, discreet. Click here to read more. 

[Vietnam] Huy, Dam, “Company chief arrested for having whistleblower killed, Thanhnien News.com, November 21, 2009.

Ngo Quang Truong, director of real estate investor Hoang Hai Ltd. in Hoc Mon District, was detained after the police caught four men involved in the murder: Bui Quoc Huy, Tran Van Khoa from the northern Vinh Phuc Province, Vu Van Luan from the northern Hai Phong City and Ngo Chi Huan from the Mekong Delta’s Hau Giang Province. Click here to read more.   

[Australia] McCarthy, Joanne, “No help for Orkopoulos whistleblower Gillian Sneddon,” theherald.com.au., November 21, 2009.

GILLIAN Sneddon has officially fallen through the cracks in the system. She helped police put her former boss, Swansea MP Milton Orkopoulos, in jail for child sex offences, but NSW Deputy Ombudsman Chris Wheeler has confirmed what Ms Sneddon already knew there is nowhere she can turn for help about her treatment as a whistleblower. Click here to read more.

[Malta] Vella, Francesca, “Whistleblower Act expected shortly,” The Malta Independent, November 20, 2009.

Justice and Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici said yesterday that the Whistleblower Act is expected to be introduced shortly, possibly towards the end of the year or the beginning of next year. Click here to read more.

[Iran] McGough, Steve, “Whistleblower Iranian physician dead,” Radio Vice Online, November 18, 2009.

Well isn’t this just grand. Twenty-six year old Iranian prison doctor Ramin Pourandarjani who went public with reports of torture and murder after the recently-squashed Iranian revolution is dead after a car accident. Or is it a heart attack. Or maybe suicide. Or maybe he was poisoned. Click here to read more.

You can download the PDF files of the news in each country’s page: Australia, Canada, Iran, Malta, and Vietnam

 

International Whistleblower News (October 26)

[Malaysia] Tsin, Yip Ai, “Whistleblower Act wins TI-M approval,” Malaysiakini, October 26, 2009.

Anti-graft watchdog Transparency International Malaysia (TI-M) has lauded the proposed Whistleblower Act, which will provide immunity to informants against civil or criminal action. "By putting in place the protection of whistleblowers, the government (will) promote integrity and freedom of speech, which are crucial conditions for democracy, the rule of law and sustainable development," said TI-M secretary-general Loi Kheng Min in a statement today. Click here to read more.

[UK] Chadwick, Edward, “Birmingham MP John Hemming gives refuge to Jersey whistleblower,” Birmingham Post.net, October 26, 2009.

A Birmingham MP has taken an on-the-run whistleblower into his home after he claimed asylum in the UK. John Hemming says Stuart Syvret will be arrested “over his dead body” after the former Jersey health minister holed up at his London flat. He is facing prison after leaking a police report into an aborted investigation surrounding the conduct of a male nurse on the island. Mr Syvret will ask the British Government for legal asylum and “protection from harassment” from the Jersey authorities. Click here to read more.

Previous post about Stuart Syvret in NWC blog

[Canada] “The Richard Colvin Case,” FAIR.

Richard Colvin was a senior diplomat posted in Afghanistan from April 2006 to October 2007. Starting in May 2006 he repeatedly raised concerns about the potential for torture of prisoners handed over byy the Canadian military to Afghan police. He raised these concerns to senior officials at Foreign Affairs and National Defence, copying 79 different people across government. Click here to read more.

 

[Australia] “Australia considers new whistleblower protections, Compli.net, October 23, 2009.

The Australian government has released plans to increase the protections for corporate whistleblowers in an effort to increase disclosures to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission. At present, corporate whistleblowers are covered under Part 9.4AAA of the Corporations Act 2001, which was amended to provide protection in 2004. The government is concerned that during this time only four individuals have felt that they had adequate protection to use the "whistleblower" protections to make disclosures against their company. Click here to read more.

[Northern Ireland] “Whistleblower takes harassment case to high court,” FermanaghHerald, October 21, 2009.

A 54-YEAR-OLD senior civil servant from near Enniskillen who was awarded an out of court settlement by an industrial tribunal in September 2007, is now taking a high court case for harassment against the Cross Border Body Waterways Ireland and the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure. Brian McTeggart had been seconded from the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure to a post with Waterways Ireland at its Enniskillen All-Ireland headquarters and later became its director of corporate services. Click here to read more.

You can download PDF files of the news in each country’s page: Australia, Canada, Malaysia, and UK and Northern Ireland.

 

International Whistleblower News (October 19)

[Canada] Perreaux, Les and Rhéal Séguin, “Montreal Mafia controls 80 percent of road contracts, whistleblower says,” The Globe and Mail, October 15, 2009.

The alleged plans for fixing bids among Montreal construction companies known as the “Fabulous Fourteen” were passed along by telephone, often using a code based on golf. Click here to read more.

[Azerbaijan] “Whistleblower released from psychiatric hospital,” International Freedom of Expression eXchange, October 14, 2009.

Mahammad Gurbanov, a 55-year-old resident of Nakhchivan City who was placed in a psychiatric hospital by police on 11 September 2009, was released on World Mental Health Day, on 10 October, after 29 days in detention. Click here to read more.

 

[UK] Smith, Lewis, “High Court reinstates nurse who exposed neglect,” The Independent, October 13, 2009.

A nurse who was struck off the register for blowing the whistle on unacceptably low standards of care for elderly patients has won her fight for re-instatement. Margaret Haywood secretly filmed patients at the Royal Sussex Hospital in Brighton to show they were being neglected. Click here to read more.

Previous post about Margaret Haywood in NWC blog

[UK] Butler, Patrick, “Sharon Shoesmith lawyers demand Ofsted docements,” Guardian.co.uk, October 12, 2009.

Lawyers acting for the sacked Haringey children's boss Sharon Shoesmith have demanded that Ofsted release key documents that would shed light on claims that it deliberately "manipulated" performance data in the wake of the Baby Peter furore. Click here to read more.

[Australia] Skinner, Jo, “Commissioner rejects police whistleblower’s bullying allegations,” ABC News, October 12, 2009.

Queensland Police Commissioner Bob Atkinson has rejected a Sunshine Coast officer's claims of corruption and bullying within the force. Sergeant Robbie Munn says he has been ordered off work for 18 months and told to see a psychiatrist after he campaigned against cronyism at the Maroochydore police station. Click here to read more.

You can download PDF files of the news in each country’s page: Australia, Azerbaijan, Canada, and U.K.

 

International Whistleblower News

[Australia] Thompson, Tuck, “Police whistleblower sent home, told to see psychiatrist, Couriermail.com.au, October 12, 2009.

 A veteran officer who has exposed cronyism and corruption in the police force has been ordered off work even though his doctor says he is fit for duty. Sergeant Robbie Munn – who wants to resume his decorated 30-year career – says the service has a culture that deters whistleblowers from reporting "dirty little secrets". The police force claims Sgt Munn, who has fully recovered from heart surgery, requires psychiatric help and has ordered him off the job for 18 months. Click here to read more.

[UK] Bowen, Innes, “Whistleblower says Army abuse not investigated,” BBC News, October 11, 2009.

Three High Court judges ruled that RMP Deputy Provost Marshal Colonel Dudley Giles "lacked reliability" when he gave evidence to an inquiry into claims UK soldiers mistreated and murdered prisoners. A whistleblower has told the BBC he was not surprised when he heard the judges' comments. Click here to read more.

[UK] Curtis, Polly, Rachel Williams and Allegra Stratton, “Ofsted accused of manipulating Haringey report after Baby P,” Guardian.co.uk., October 9, 2009.

A leading MP demanded an inquiry after a whistleblower at Ofsted claimed an official report into Haringey council was secretly downgraded from “good” to “inadequate” because of the furore over the death of Baby Peter. Documents seen by the Guardian show Ofsted's initial 2008 report into Haringey children's services, then run by Sharon Shoesmith, gave it high ratings – three or four out of the maximum of four stars – in most categories. But in the key category it was later changed to one star – the worst, meaning its services were inadequate. Click here to read more.

 

[Canada] Keller, James, “Whistleblower website invites online leaks, raises legal and ethical questions,” October 8, 2009.

Will the post-first, ask-questions-later attitude fuelling much of online citizen journalism open new doors for government insiders and other whistleblowers to tell what they know on the Internet? Maybe it already has. Wikileaks.org says it guarantees anonymity for anyone submitting secret documents. It offers hundreds of thousands of so-called leaks for the public and journalists to see. An offshoot of Wikipedia started more than two years ago by an international group of activists and journalists, Wikileaks has posted several notable leaks, including uncensored operating manuals for the infamous U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay. Click here to read more.

[UN] Lee, Matthew Russel, “UN Denies Galbraith’s a Whistleblower, Told Him to Be Quiet about Bias pro-Karzai,” Inner City, October 7, 2009.

With the UN facing charges of bias and cover up of fraud in Afghanistan, Wednesday in New York the UN presented no fewer than three officials to the Press corps, all intent on rebutting and bad mouthing the UN's fired deputy envoy Peter Galbraith. The Department of Peacekeeping Operation's second in command Edmond Mulet said the Galbraith has "personal motives" for going public with his complaints that main envoy Kai Eide has been covering up electoral irregularities in the service of Hamid Karzai. Inner City Press asked Mulet to describe how Galbraith has hired for the job, and why these personal motives, or propensity to be a loose cannon, had not been discovered at the time. Click here to read more.

You can download PDF files of the news in each country’s page: Australia, Canada, and U.K

 

Australian report finds need for protecting national security whistleblowers

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The Sydney Morning Herald in Australia reports on a government study finding that national security whistleblowers need more protection.  ‘‘It is better for organisations to receive too much information about wrongdoing than too little, or too late,’’ it says. ‘‘An essential ingredient in any whistleblowing program is the commitment from each organisation to encourage reporting, act on the reports where they have been verified and to protect reporters from any adverse consequences.’’

The article says that Australia's government is planning to introduce whistleblower protection laws. The new government funded study faults the proposed protections for whistleblowers who make disclosures to journalists as being too weak.

 

 ’’Reporters in all jurisdictions should be able to express concerns to journalists, normally only after internal channels of reporting (including watchdog agencies) had been exhausted, but also possibly in other exceptional circumstances,’’ it says.

Mark Dreyfus, QC, the Labor MP who chairs the legal affairs committee, said federal whistleblower laws were vital and the committee’s proposals were stronger than those under existing state schemes. ‘‘It is imperative that people making disclosures in the public interest be protected as an important tool to eliminate corruption and maladministration.’’

The study, co-written by Professor Brown, Peter Roberts from Charles Sturt University and Jane Olsen from Queensland’s Crime and Misconduct Commission, says that middle management can be ‘‘sceptical and obstructive’’ and that senior managers need to openly state their support for staff who report wrongdoing.

‘‘Employees who do not believe that their report will be taken seriously are far less likely to report wrongdoing, to the detriment of the organisation involved.’’

Other recommendations include providing internal support and counselling and flexible mechanisms to compensate whistleblowers who lose their jobs or suffer financially or psychologically after making disclosures.