When a person or agency backed by the power and resources of the government tells a lie, it sometimes causes harm that only the government can inflict.
Blowing the whistle carries major risks.
BlueSkyImage/Shutterstock.com
In many instances, whistleblowers find the abusive power they have revealed turned against them, both ending their careers and harming their personal lives.
Amazon workers in Seattle walked off the job on Sept. 20 in a climate strike.
(AP Photo/Elaine Thompson
We need to reform whistleblower protections if we want them to help maintain the integrity of government, business and non-profits.
Dr. Benjamin Koh blew the whistle on former employee CommInsure in 2016 for their systemic program of denying valid insurance payments.
AAP Image/Dave Hunt
Australian authorities are considering offering financial incentives for would-be whistleblowers to motivate them to come forward with high quality information.
Businesses are trying to set up procedures to help whistleblowers, but better guidance, incentives and regulation are still needed, new research finds.
Stronger laws make for happy dogs.
Alexandra McEwen
People who expose wrongdoing – whether it's cruelty against animals or corporate misconduct – deserve better protection and even financial incentives to do the right thing, as the US has shown.
Bill Shorten will on Monday announce a number of proposals aimed at stamping out union corruption.
Tracey Nearmy/AAP
Tougher penalties and a central role for the Australian Securities and Investments Commission are key parts of Labor's policy to crack down on union corruption.
Former Commonwealth Bank employee Jeff Morris struggled for years to reveal breaches by his employer.
AAP/Stefan Postles
It's likely that many people knew Volkswagen was cheating on emissions tests, including the engineers who built the 'defeat device'. But why did no-one at the car maker blow the whistle?
Richard Marles said that whistleblower protection laws still apply when it comes to the Border Force Act.
AAP/Alan Porritt
Despite doctors voicing fears they could be jailed for disclosing abuse of refugees, Richard Marles says whistleblower protection laws would still apply in relation to the Border Force Act. Is he right?
Would reporter Bob Woodward have been able to protect Deep Throat’s identity from today’s surveillance tools?
Reuters/Alex Gallardo
Four decades on, in a digital era of surveillance and data storage, Watergate remains a useful yardstick for assessing the value of source confidentiality.