The ICAC Committee of the NSW Parliament is now holding an inquiry into my proposed law to improve legal protections for people who come forward to blow the whistle on corruption.
I was pleased to see many organisations supporting the proposed law, including the NSW Ombudsman’s Office, who stated in their submission that:
“It is essential that public officials, government contractors and members of the public should be able to provide information to statutory oversight bodies without suffering detriment for doing so.”
The NSW Law Society, which represents lawyers in NSW, said:
“The Law Society supports amending the ICAC Act to offer protections…to all people who make voluntary disclosures to ICAC whether or not the matter is the subject of an ongoing investigation by ICAC... Without additional protections, those who provide information to ICAC do so at significant risk of incurring civil liability due to contractual or employment undertakings.”
And the NSW Council for Civil Liberties, which also supports my proposed changes to the law, said:
“Such an amendment will provide appropriate protections for individuals wishing to make disclosures about corruption and can also be expected to increase the flow of voluntary information about corruption to ICAC.”
I’m hopeful that the Inquiry will recommend changing the legislation, and that we’ll soon see protection for people who expose corruption enshrined into law.
