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Managing Internal Witnesses in the Australian Public Sector: Meeting the Challenge, Charting the Way Forward Ian Wark Theatre, The Shine Dome, Canberra Tuesday 12 July 2005.
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Managing Internal Witnessesin the Australian Public Sector: Meeting the Challenge,Charting the Way Forward Ian Wark Theatre,The Shine Dome, CanberraTuesday 12 July 2005
Whistling While They Work: Enhancing the Theory & Practice of Internal Witness Management in the Australian Public Sector Australian Government Commonwealth OmbudsmanAustralian Public Service CommissionCharles Sturt University New South WalesNSW ICACNSW OmbudsmanUniversity of Sydney QueenslandCrime & Misconduct CommissionQueensland OmbudsmanOffice of Public Service, M&EGriffith UniversityUniversity of Queensland Western AustraliaCorruption & Crime CommissionWA OmbudsmanWA Public Sector Standards Comr Edith Cowan University Victoria, ACT & NTOmbudsman VictoriaNT Comr for Public EmploymentACT Chief Minister’s DeptMonash University Transparency International Australia Australian Research Council Socio-Legal Research CentreKey Centre for Ethics Law Justice & Governance
Whistleblowing • Near & Miceli (1985: 4): “the disclosure by organisation members (former or current) of illegal, immoral, or illegitimate practices under the control of their employers, to persons or organisations that may be able to effect action.” • Internal witness • Developed by the NSW Police Service - a wider term encompassing not just whistleblowing but a range of roles through which employees assist integrity efforts, including passive and uninvited ones, e.g. non-complainant roles. • Public interest disclosure (most Australian legislation)Protected disclosure (NSW) • What about private grievances? What about policy disagreements? Where does public whistleblowing fit? • -- See ‘Typology’
Management of public interest disclosures / whistleblowing / internal witnesses is about... 1. Legislation (legal risks & obligations)e.g. s.16 Public Service Act 1999 2. Central government commitment to / coordination of legislative responsibilities 3. Internal disclosure procedures (IDPs) (or internal reporting systems) 4. Agency IDPs in practice (as against theory) 5. Individual managers’ attitudes/practices 6. General staff awareness & attitudes.
Things we know... 1. Legislative frameworks are getting used 2. Reported official figures for w/blower reports / PIDs are only indicative – ‘tip of iceberg’
Things we know... 1. Legislative frameworks are getting used 2. Reported official figures for w/blower reports / PIDs are only indicative – ‘tip of iceberg’ 3. Actual likely internal witness caseload may be something like 1.8% of workforce (approx. 30,000 federal and state public servants annually) 4. Considerable anecdotal and self-selected evidence of the problems & management challenges 5. Some empirical evidence of the attitudes and experience of individual staff (inc. SOS) 6. Limited knowledge of actual agency practices and procedures, including innovations.
Why ‘manage’, ‘support’ and ‘protect’...? 1. Because internal disclosures are valuable. 2. Because it is – or should be – the duty of public officials to report wrongdoing and other concerns. 3. Because for managers, it pays to know about misconduct, maladministration or other workplace problems sooner, rather than later. • Because whistleblowing is inherently conflict-ridden, stress-inducing, and subject to reprisal risks. 5. Because it costs to worry about our duty of care to internal witnesses later, rather than sooner. 6. Because procedural fairness includes fairness for complainants and witnesses… as our staff. 7. Because we can.
