In recent days there have been media reports that highlighted the prevailing attitude of many members of the public toward whistleblowers. When commenting on people who report others to the Taxation Office the newspaper headline was; ‘Cobbers turn to Dobbers’ which of course is utilising a pejorative term from the school-yard and tending to imply the activity is Un-Australian. Yet there appears to be widespread support for the Ombudsman’s findings of serious skulduggery at the Brimbank council which included sweetheart deals for family members, misuse of council funds and criminals influencing council decisions. All of which came to light as a consequence of disclosures made under the Whistleblowers Protection Act.

Back to the reporting of Tax dodgers. Surely in the midst of the GFC and at a time when our nation needs all the tax dollars it is entitled to the ATO needs all the help it can get? Last year more than 55,000 citizens thought so and passed information to the Tax Evasion Hotline.

Crime Stoppers started in 1987 and since then over one million calls have been taken with over 45,000 arrests made for criminal offences and huge amounts of stolen property and illegal drugs recovered. Interestingly in spite of the availability of cash rewards very few callers ever make a claim.

Centrelink also received over 100,000 calls reporting suspected welfare fraud worth $125 million. We also have successful hotlines to target suspected terrorism, corruption in the building industry and offences against the environment. Having just suffered the most devastating bushfires in our history who would now not lodge a report about a person throwing a lit cigarette out of the window of a vehicle to the EPA?

So far the examples raised have been in the public sector but the private sector also requires action by whistleblowers. Some high profile and significant examples that have affected our economic well-being come readily to mind. Back in 2002 the corporate scandals at US companies WorldCom and Enron were outed by internal whistleblowers. Those economic catastrophes flowed across the globe and combined with other corporate malfeasance impacted adversely on the stock market which hurt the superannuation balance of most of us.

Here in Australia it took a determined and courageous whistleblower to stand up against popular and influential ‘corporate captains’ Ray Williams and Rodney Adler of HIH. And like the women who reported the crooks at WorldCom and Enron he only received a short period of appreciation for his efforts. Many whistleblowers suffer greatly for their efforts and for that reason both whistleblower legislation and processes need to provide for anonymity; as a shield not a mask. The Victorian legislation certainly does so.

So what drives people to report corrupt or improper conduct? For those who work within public or private sector organisations it is predominantly because they want the right thing to be done and improper practices or conduct to cease. Very often whistleblowers have unsuccessfully reported their suspicions through management before going “outside” to relevant oversight bodies. Certainly a few complainants are driven by less than honourable motives but if their information checks out and the subject of their whistle blast is indeed corrupt or dishonest then that is the key issue. Of course it requires an investigation to determine the truth or otherwise of the allegations.

Whether the perpetrators are tax evaders or shonky people in the public or the private sector who are misappropriating money or other assets we all pick up the bill eventually. It impacts in a range of ways; including higher taxes, rates and charges, lower share prices and a degraded environment.

Whistleblowers are neither devils nor angels. They are mostly average people doing what they consider is right and necessary to cause the relevant authorities to stop improper conduct or to bring those responsible to account. So let’s stop the lampooning and start lauding them for speaking up on our behalf and for the benefit of society. And as far as I am concerned they are still cobbers.

Bob Falconer - Chairman, STOPline Pty Ltd 14 May 2009