Financial incentives have been proposed as a way to support whistleblowers.

A coalition comprising crossbench politicians, legal experts, academics, and transparency advocates is championing a groundbreaking proposal - offering financial rewards to whistleblowers who expose misconduct.

The local laws would mirror the multimillion-dollar incentives found in the United States. 

Such a system has previously seen whistleblowers, like former UBS banker Bradley Birkenfeld, receive rewards as high as US$104 million ($159 million) for their disclosures, helping to cover the often severe career repercussions they face.

Clancy Moore, the chief executive of Transparency International Australia, whistleblowers are pivotal in spotlighting harmful activities, but currently they often “end up punished and not protected”. 

Sharon Kelsey, a whistleblower retaliated against for reporting a former Queensland mayor's misconduct, says; “Standing up for what’s right shouldn’t have to come at the great personal cost it currently does”.

This proposal is part of a broader push for the establishment of a Whistleblower Protection Authority (WPA), a concept Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus is being encouraged to integrate into upcoming governmental reforms. 

The initiative is backed by crossbench MPs, including Andrew Wilkie and Helen Haines, along with Senate supporters David Pocock and Paul Scarr, who are set to lead a presentation at Parliament House.

The planned WPA, supported by principles designed by entities such as Transparency International, the Human Rights Law Centre, and Griffith University, aims to counteract reprisals against whistleblowers through legal measures and enforcement actions. 

This includes the potential for taking legal action on behalf of whistleblowers embroiled in employment disputes.

Despite a long-standing recognition of the need for a WPA, dating back to a Senate inquiry proposal in 1994 and a bipartisan endorsement in 2017, it has not yet been made real. 

The current push for the authority comes amidst calls for the government to desist from prosecuting whistleblowers like Defence's David McBride and the Tax Office's Richard Boyle, whose cases show the deficiencies in the existing protective framework.