“All that is needed for evil to prosper is for people of good will to do nothing”—Edmund Burke The

Whistle No. 83, July 2015

Newsletter of Whistleblowers Australia (ISSN 2205-0299)

Conference and annual general meeting

Conference Saturday 14 November 2015 8.15am for 9am

AGM Sunday 15 November 2015 8.15am for 9am

Venue: Uniting Church Ministry Convention Centre on Masons Drive, North Parramatta, Sydney NSW

Non-members: $65 per day, includes lunch & morning/afternoon tea. Optional $25 extra for dinner onsite 6pm Saturday night

Members, concessional cardholders and students: $45 per day

This charge may be waived for members, concessional cardholders and students from interstate, on prior application to WBA secretary Jeannie Berger ([email protected]).

Optional dinner @ $20 a head, onsite 6pm Saturday night.

Bookings: notify full details to treasurer Feliks Perera by phone on (07) 5448 8218 or at [email protected] or president Cynthia Kardell (for phone/email see below under enquiries).

Payment: Mail cheque made payable to Whistleblowers Australia Inc. to the treasurer, Feliks Perera, at 1/5 Wayne Ave, Marcoola Qld 4564, or pay Whistleblowers Australia Inc by deposit to NAB Coolum Beach BSB 084 620 Account Number 69841 4626 or by credit card using PayPal to account name [email protected].

Low-cost quality accommodation is available at the venue: Book directly with and pay the venue. Call 1300 138 125 or email [email protected]

Enquiries: ring national president Cynthia Kardell on (02) 9484 6895 or email [email protected]

If you are new to WBA and would like to tell your whistleblowing story at the conference, let Cynthia know.

2 The Whistle, #83, July 2015 Book reviews

BOOK REVIEW public discussion, enables citizens to but these have been nobbled by become knowledgeable, and this in secrecy, with most judges simply Lords of Secrecy turn is the most solid basis for forming acquiescing to claims about national Reviewed by Brian Martin wise policies. Secrecy, on the other security. hand, is toxic to the democratic spirit, So the system of representative because it permits special interests to government based on three branches OPEN discussion is the lifeblood of a democratic society, according to Scott get their way at the expense of the — executive, legislative, judicial — Horton in his new book Lords of wider population. that act as controls on each other has Secrecy. With the rise of a national Fast forwarding to the 1900s, broken down in the US. The executive security elite in the US, secrecy has Horton examines the rise of bureau- has emerged as dominant, with secrecy become excessive and dangerous. The cracy, a system of organising work as its chosen tool to prevent scrutiny of new secrecy regime is unprecedented involving hierarchy and a division of abuses. in US history. Part of the story is a labour. Most large organisations, The system cannot police itself, so “war on whistleblowers.” whether in governments, corporations the media are vital in challenging or churches, are bureaucratic. Horton abuses. Yet in the US the mass media is especially interested in government have largely succumbed to government bureaucracies and in one of their imperatives. Edward Snowden realised central tools: secrecy. Bureaucrats gain this and, rather than provide his mate- power through exclusive access to rial to the New York Times, went knowledge; secrecy is their preferred instead to the British-based Guardian. mode of stymieing challenges. The damage caused by excessive secrecy is shown by the rise of drone warfare. Pilotless aircraft are sent on missions, being guided by workers safe in bunkers in Nevada, to monitor and sometimes to kill targets identified as threats to the US. This is basically assassination, with the targets executed without arrest or trial.

Horton next turns to the US national security state, which emerged in the aftermath of World War II in response to the challenge posed by the Soviet Union and in particular the develop- Lords of Secrecy is wide-ranging and ment of nuclear weapons, carried out illuminating. Before I address Horton’s in top secrecy. The national security discussion of whistleblowing, it’s state in the US includes the Central useful to review earlier chapters, which Intelligence Agency and the National deal with ancient Greek democracy, Security Agency. The original ena- The US drone programme has been the bureaucratic addiction to secrecy, bling legislation for the CIA was, cloaked in extreme secrecy. Massively the rise of the US national security according to Horton, sensitive to the expanded under Obama’s administra- state, and stealth warfare. dangers posed by a secrecy regime, but tion, information provided to the Horton begins his analysis by going over several decades the bureaucratic public and media is highly selective. back to the democracies in ancient imperative gradually overwhelmed the Few members of the public realise that Greece. He quotes writers from that oversight mechanisms in the system. drone strikes can be counterproductive. time and contemporary scholars to Theoretically, the legislative branch People in targeted countries, such as argue that public discussion of issues of government is supposed to provide Pakistan, learn about strikes, including was crucial to the success of ancient control over the unchecked growth of civilian casualties, and learn to hate the Athens against its more dictatorial executive power. However, the US US. The strikes may kill a few rivals such as Sparta. Congress has been inadequate to the militants, but at the expense of One of the key ideas Horton takes task of reining in the ever-expanding recruiting many more to the militants’ from the experiences in ancient Athens national security state, with a primary cause. There is little public discussion is “knowledge-based democracy.” reason being the use of secrecy. of these issues because of secrecy and Access to information, combined with Another potential check is the courts, the servility of US mainstream media.

The Whistle, #83, July 2015 3 People in Pakistan know more about under all previous presidents. How- college or find a job commensu- the drones than US citizens. ever, Horton does not blame Obama, rate with your education and Horton summarises his argument: but rather the increasing power of the experience. We will make your national security elite, and the corro- life a never-ending hell. And the I have argued that the rising sive effect of excessive secrecy. courts and your attorneys will be power and influence of the Horton does not necessarily support powerless to help you in any American national security elite national security whistleblowers. For way. The Drake case shows us a are attributable mainly to the use example, he is critical of WikiLeaks Justice Department prepared to of secrecy as a tool. In essence, and Chelsea Manning. But Horton’s abuse its massive powers for the classification regimes are used to deeper concern is that it is virtually benefit of the intelligence com- lock in and control analysts down impossible to have an informed public munity. It also points to the the chain of command and to discussion of the issues because of the immense imbalance in power exclude vital national security level of secrecy involving national among national security prose- issues from effective public de- security. cutors, the courts, and accused bate and hence from democratic Horton notes that leaking is stand- whistleblowers. (p. 139; empha- process. Instead, only the lords of ard procedure by politicians and top sis by Horton) secrecy and their acolytes pro- bureaucrats, for example to test the vide the vital information and response to proposed policies. Secrecy analysis that lead to decisions on is used selectively. Elites can leak with war and peace: whether troops impunity to serve political or personal should be committed to a strug- agendas, but when lower level workers gle on foreign soil, aircraft leak in the public interest, they are should be deployed, or drones targeted for exemplary prosecutions. and cruise missiles used for Horton discusses the cases of Stephen strikes. (pp. 153–154) Kim, Jeffrey Stirling and Thomas

Drake, noting that the way they have been treated has been vindictive and even counterproductive, in that they undermine respect for the secrecy system itself. Yet the national security elite cannot recognise the damage their own actions are causing because of the secrecy they impose and the conse- quent lack of public discussion. Here is Horton’s assessment of the

espionage cases against whistle- Thomas Drake blowers.

The Justice Department may not Australian lords of secrecy win its cases in federal court. It The relevance of Horton’s analysis to may even be criticized by a Australia is fairly obvious. Especially federal judge who gets a clear in the years after the 9/11 attacks and sense of how the department’s the Bali bombing, Australia’s security national security division abuses agencies have been given massive prosecutorial powers for the funding increases. In Australia, gov- ernment operations have always been Scott Horton benefit of the national security state. But in the end, it can subject to far more secrecy than in the Whistleblowers under attack consider many lost cases as US, and this has only been accentuated In this context, it is not surprising that successful just the same: it has in recent years. The latest assaults on public discussion have included laws the national security elite have targeted chilled the environment con- whistleblowers as threats to their cerning classified information criminalising whistleblowing and jour- secrecy regime. Horton devotes an and nipped in the bud a great nalism on national security, data reten- entire chapter to “The war on whistle- deal of national security report- tion laws that will enable tracking blowers.” As part of the assault on ing that would otherwise help the down leakers and leak recipients more whistleblowers, the Obama admin- public understand what their easily, and laws against speaking out istration has used the espionage act, government is up to. about asylum seekers in detention. passed during World War I, to prose- Most significantly, it sends a On the one hand, in Australia there cute whistleblowers, even though no clear message to would-be whis- are numerous whistleblower protection espionage is involved. tleblowers: We will destroy you. laws, but on the other hand the new More such prosecutions have been You will lose your pension, your laws show what the government really wants, namely that no one should have made under Obama’s presidency than savings, your house. You won’t be able to send your children to the temerity to expose the activities of

4 The Whistle, #83, July 2015 powerful groups. Scrutiny is one way: how we define whistleblowing. Bow- I also had some doubt as to how the government reserves for itself the den differentiates whistleblowing from effective the book was as a potential power to maintain surveillance over social activism, although it seems that self-help guide to whistleblowers. I citizens, but wants to prevent citizens within a global society this distinction would have liked to have seen more on from exposing the crimes and follies of is becoming increasingly blurred. For how to use the so-called Dracula those at the top. instance, if a citizen speaks out against Solution, that is, shining light on Lords of Secrecy is a powerful argu- a social wrong, and is persecuted by organizational wrongdoing through ment for knowledge-based democracy, his/her government, should he/she be disclosure on the internet and the in which secrecy is minimised so that regarded as a whistleblower? I’m media. Given that whistleblowers are public discussion can sort good ideas starting to think that the popular under- generally people under a great deal of from bad. For whistleblowers, there standing of a whistleblower, that is, pressure, I suspect that a “how to blow are a few take-home messages. First, any person who speaks out against the whistle” approach would be most public discussion of contentious issues wrong, may be the most appropriate. effective. is vital for a thriving democracy. I was intrigued with Bowden’s The above are, however, minor Second, secrecy is regularly used as a discussion on why whistleblowers tend criticisms. Bowden advocates that the tool by elites to prevent discussion and to be, in a general and theoretical ethics and practicalities of whistle- scrutiny. Third, whistleblowers play an sense, highly regarded, but paradoxi- blowing ought to be taught at univer- important role in challenging the cally demonized within specific sity-level courses in public and secrecy system. The implication is that organizations. Bowden suggests the business administration, and I suspect a good way to assess whistleblowing is answer lies in our atavistic desire to he is correct here. It is possible that his whether it contributes to greater public belong, to be part of a group. Whistle- book may end up as a text for students understanding and discussion. blowers are often deemed to be a threat in this field. to the group. Otherwise put, they are Scott Horton, Lords of secrecy: the seen to be disloyal. Of course, seeing national security elite and America’s whistleblowers as disloyal is superfi- stealth warfare (New York: Nation cial. If one has the courage to speak Books, 2015) out about wrong within an organiza- tion or group, that ultimately is a Brian Martin is editor of The Whistle. statement that the person believes the group is of value. I was also intrigued with Bowden’s own journey as a whistleblower. He BOOK REVIEW only mentions this in passing (it involved his work with an NGO, and In the Public Interest subsequent reprisals against him for having pointed out maladministration Reviewed by James Page within that NGO), but it is clearly important for him. I would call this the Peter Bowden’s book In the Public existential dimension of whistleblow- Interest is a valuable contribution to ing. I suspect that one can only really the growing collection of critical appreciate how wrong it is that whis- literature on whistleblowing and the tleblowers are, in most cases, badly way that agencies respond to whistle- treated, and the need for social change blowing. It’s written by a former here, once one has been down that path professor of administrative studies at of being a whistleblower oneself. Peter Bowden, In the Public Interest: Manchester University, who also has Weaknesses with the book? Perhaps Protecting Whistleblowers and Those wide international experience, and thus the scope of the book is too ambitious. Who Speak Out. Melbourne, Tilde is well qualified to write on this topic. For instance, I’m not sure that Bowden Publishing, 2014. The scope of the book is ambitious. adequately deals with the important Bowden announces in the preface that issue of providing an ethical underpin- Dr James Page is an adjunct associate the book “is aimed at strengthening ning for whistleblowing. I would have professor at the University of New liked to have seen more on deontologi- England. ethical practices in our institutions of government and in our business cal ethics, namely, the duty to speak organisations”, and proceeds to exam- out when one sees a wrong. And I ine examples in the UK, USA and believe virtue ethics has the potential Australia. The book also seeks to serve to be empowering for whistleblowers, as a self-help book for would-be whis- in that telling the truth is part of a tleblowers, and to provide some ethical person’s integrity, and further that this underpinning for whistleblowing. personal integrity is something that an There were many aspects of this organisation may well attack, but ulti- book which I found intriguing. One is mately can never destroy.

The Whistle, #83, July 2015 5 Media watch

Apathy fuels financial when the police, for whatever reason, Australia Bank] didn’t waste his time are ineffectual and police don’t come with ASIC but went straight to Fairfax sector antipathy much worse than the corporate cops at Media. ASIC had been tipped off This country has no effective ASIC [Australian Securities and In- numerous times about what was going protection for private sector vestments Commission]. on at NAB but had done nothing for at whistleblowers or any compensation The personal cost to me and my least five years. No thanks to ASIC, for the price you pay. family of being a whistleblower at the victims are at least finally getting CBA was very high. Finally I was left paid. Jeff Morris alone by ASIC to negotiate my exit Now whistleblowers have exposed Sydney Morning Herald from CBA as best I could. The worst IOOF. One made the mistake of going 24 June 2015, p. 28 of it was that I knew ASIC had to the company first as an internal comprehensively bungled their task at whistleblower. IOOF now seeks to CBA. portray him as a disgruntled former Two years ago I therefore blew the employee with an axe to grind but whistle on ASIC and a good man, don’t mention the fact that they sacked Senator John “Wacka” Williams, him after he became a whistleblower. moved for a Senate inquiry. The whistleblower at NAB, like my The CBA/ASIC party line fell apart colleagues at CBA, has chosen to at the ensuing inquiry. Among other remain in the shadows. Who could things, it emerged that the compensa- blame them? There is no effective Illustration: Rocco Fazzari. tion scheme for victims had indeed protection for private sector whistle-

been a stitch-up as the senators blowers in this country. There is no IT IS more than 200 years since it is concluded that neither CBA nor ASIC compensation for the personal and reputed Edmund Burke said: “The only could be trusted to put it right! professional price that you pay either. thing necessary for the triumph of evil Ultimately the Senate inquiry found In this vacuum, companies are free is for good men to do nothing.” enough shocking behaviour at CBA to to treat whistleblowers with the utmost He could be talking about the soberly conclude that an unprece- ruthlessness and this occurs even in current state of play in the financial dented royal commission into the cases where they are publicly pre- services sector in this country. CBA, a solvent private company, was tending to be contrite after having been To put it bluntly, evil has triumphed “warranted.” exposed. for far too long and too many people The good men had fought the good Despite this hostile environment, have sat on the sidelines watching. fight and the umpire had given his enough whistleblowers have now come

decision. forward to expose a culture of greed Before the ink was dry on the 547- and unethical behaviour in our major page Senate report however the Abbott financial institutions that would have government was hosing down any been unimaginable a generation ago. prospect of a royal commission. The Yet, seemingly indifferent to the question has to be asked: why? Why widespread financial devastation for did the government choose to run a ordinary Australians that each new protection racket for the CBA? Why scandal represents, the Abbott gov-

Jeff Morris did City Hall look the other way? Was ernment responds like a parrot with Photo: James Brickwood this a crime syndicate that was too big repeated refusals to call a royal to take on? commission into their friends at the big In 2008 I was one of “The Ferrets” CBA was let off the royal commis- end of town. who first blew the whistle on the sion that would have fully exposed its This is the same government that management conspiracy at the Com- malfeasance in return for yet another called royal commissions in a heart- monwealth Bank of Australia to cover CBA-run compensation programme beat into unions and pink batts when it up the misdeeds of “rogue” financial that managed to pay out only “about got a whiff of political expediency. planner Don Nguyen and deny the three” victims in 10 months, according At the end of the day though, the trusting clients the compensation to to the bank. CBA has been deceiving Abbott government can only get away which they were entitled. its victims since at least 2003 and, with this sort of behaviour if good These people trusted the CBA as a thanks to the complicity of the Abbott people acquiesce. financial institution and in return CBA government, most of them are still behaved like a crime syndicate in waiting to be paid. Jeff Morris is a former financial planner covering up the malfeasance of But the CBA story has acted as a and a whistleblower. Nguyen and a raft of other so called call to arms and good men everywhere “rogue” planners. are stirring. Crime syndicates can flourish only A whistleblower at NAB [National

6 The Whistle, #83, July 2015 SES whistleblower Tara “In a really short time after finally employment reforms under the returning to the job I loved, I was told Government Sector Employment Act. McCarthy left out in cold my role as deputy commissioner “This process is occurring across all Cydonee Mardon corporate services was being deleted,” departments and is part of the NSW Illawarra Mercury, 14 May 2015 she said. Government’s ongoing commitment to “All the functions of my position improve transparency and accounta- would be performed by the commis- bility in the way it employs senior sioner and my job was being abol- executive staff and to promote greater ished.” efficiency in decision-making.” Ms McCarthy said she and Mr Pearce both applied for Mr Pearce’s position — deputy commissioner of operations — when the SES restruc- Whistleblower app tured and formally abolished her role. Liam Tung Neither was successful. The Age, 12 May 2015 “Even though the remaining deputy position bore little resemblance to the role I had held, I decided to apply anyway,” Ms McCarthy said. Despite meeting the capabilities of the role, she was informed she was unsuccessful. Ms McCarthy said she was never reinstated, just returned on a six-month contract so she had no option but to Sylvain Mansotte finish up when the six months ended. In 2014, after being vindicated by BLOWING the whistle on company Tara McCarthy the ICAC, she had to wait another five fraud is all risk and little reward for Picture: Nic Walker months to return to work. people who report it. A one-time She said the impending court action whistleblower hopes to even the scales AN SES deputy commissioner who over her case did not give her any with a new app that helps people report was improperly sacked for exposing comfort, regardless of the outcome. “I fraud anonymously. potential misconduct says her ordeal didn’t get my job back and that’s Whistleblowers are likely to be has left her disappointed in a system pretty disappointing. Any further legal socially ostracised, may face threats that still fails to protect people who action against Murray Kear isn’t going and probably won’t have a career after report potential corruption and malad- to change that,” she said. reporting fraud. They also won’t be ministration. “People come up to me and say ‘It’s rewarded for reporting fraud to their Tara McCarthy, the first female great what you did, I really admire employer or the Australian Securities deputy commissioner in the 60-year your courage, but after seeing what and Investments Commission (ASIC). history of the State Emergency happened to you there’s no way I Despite this, Sylvain Mansotte, Service, was vindicated when the would ever blow the whistle’. founder of the whistleblowing website Independent Commission Against “I think it is really sad that my case FraudSec, had the grit to report a Corruption found her boss Murray has shown people that they won’t be multi-million-dollar fraud while em- Kear acted corruptly by sacking her in protected and I really hope the ployed at one of Australia’s largest May 2013 for making allegations government introduces reforms to construction firms. against his “mate” Steve Pearce. ensure there are reinstatement provi- “It was my first experience as a Kear now faces a criminal charge of sions. Public servants need to be whistleblower,” Mansotte told Fairfax. taking detrimental action in reprisal for confident they will be protected.” Mansotte arrived in Australia from a person making a public-interest Ms McCarthy did not receive redun- France in 2005, and quickly landed a disclosure. That case has been dancy from the SES because she had role within the construction firm’s first adjourned until June. returned on contract. procurement team, a small group that Mr Pearce, who was suspended on She said she was relieved to have a was tasked with bringing order to full pay during the investigation, was new role as general manager for billions of dollars spent each year on returned to his position late last year. quality assurance at Transport for procurement, including on travel and No findings of corruption have been NSW. accommodation expenses. made against him. “I’m really happy to have this job While poring over accommodation Ms McCarthy on the other hand was and excited about the future, but I am spending, one item stood out to only offered a six-month contract. Just disappointed that I had to leave the Mansotte: a property, registered as an weeks after returning to the SES, she SES and a job I loved.” Australian business, had invoiced the was told her role was being abolished. An SES spokeswoman told the construction firm $2 million in a single Mercury the SES was implementing year.

The Whistle, #83, July 2015 7 “Sometimes when you work re- using AES 256-bit encryption — the says the “big four” do investigate and motely in Australia you can put a lot of same standard used by Wickr, the pass on reports they receive, but points money towards these expenses, but this messaging app preferred by Malcolm to a key difference when handling was hefty,” Mansotte told Fairfax. Turnbull to communicate privately reports from anonymous tipsters. A call to accounts payable revealed with peers. Mansotte said FraudSec “One of the problems with whistle- the property was charging for consult- discourages employees from reporting blowing hotlines is where you get ing services, which he later uncovered fraud from company-owned devices someone who’s an anonymous whis- had submitted nearly 300 invoices in and the company network. tleblower. You have to find ways to 12 years, totalling over $20 million. encourage that person to call back in. Mansotte didn’t know it was an You actually have no way of contact- inside job until he’d found a name on ing them back,” said Masters. the company’s intranet that matched a In the absence of financial incen- record he’d dug up on ASIC’s database tives, FraudSec at least may boost the linked to the property. It turned out to number of reports that companies, law have been owned by a senior finance enforcement and ASIC receive about manager at the construction firm. fraud. The incident was wrapped up ASIC gave qualified support to such swiftly. The fraudster was arrested, services, telling Fairfax that whistle- immediately admitted to the crime and blowers “can be valuable intelligence is still serving out the jail sentence. Old-fashioned whistleblower app about issues and conduct occurring in Mansotte for his part was offered a the organisations and activities that new role in the risk and fraud depart- Compared to a whistleblower hot- ASIC regulates.” ment. line however, the most interesting “While we don’t endorse any “From that day until 2014, my job feature of FraudSec may not be en- product as a crutch for good practices was to investigate and detect fraud and cryption but its messaging capability, and processes, we welcome anything talk to whistleblowers,” he said. which lets the company reply to the that may assist,” a spokesperson told Mansotte was fortunate to have whistleblower without the person Fairfax. been part of a team whose job was to having to reveal their name, phone The NSW Police Fraud & Cyber- root out erroneous spending. The number or email address. crime Squad, which also investigates employees who came to him, however It may encourage more anonymous fraud in corporate settings, said whis- — typically from construction sites — tip-offs despite the lack of incentives tleblowers are “often critical in helping often wanted to report a fraud but felt to report fraud in Australia. There are us successfully complete our investi- they couldn’t. This inspired him to protections for whistleblowers but they gations.” create FraudSec. only apply if a person is willing to go “We are open to hearing about any Whistleblower hotlines for employ- on the record. In the US, the Securities initiatives that help law enforcement ees aren’t new. The “big four” and Exchange Commission (SEC) last agencies combat fraud, and are regu- accounting firms provide services to year paid out a $30 million bounty to a larly kept abreast of new security- clients that allow employees and whistleblower, whereas Australian focused technology platforms that help suppliers to call in, send an email or reporters get nothing for their troubles. prevent and/or identify suspicious file a report on the company’s intranet. A senate committee reviewing activity,” a spokesperson said. They also allow whistleblowers to file ASIC’s handling of whistleblowers reports anonymously. last year recommended a similar But, according to Mansotte, these scheme to redress the lack of incen- services don’t take into account whis- tives for Australian whistleblowers. Dark secrets for sale tleblowers’ fear of being identified and But payouts are best seen as compen- Chris Baraniuk that they tend to limit disclosures when sation for the loss of a career, accord- New Scientist, 18 February 2015 calling a hotline. ing to Jason Masters, a seasoned “Those guys on the ground feared director whose consultancy specialises A new site that lets people sell secret for their job and feared for their in audit, risk and technology. documents online will make life easier family. They knew everything that was “If you’re a whistleblower there’s a for whistleblowers — and blackmailers happening but didn’t want to take the high probability that your career will risk with a whistleblower hotline or fill be destroyed and you’ll probably end PSST, wanna know a secret? You’ll just out a form on the intranet site that can up suffering severe emotional and have to give me some money first. be tracked by the company quite mental issues. The [SEC] reward That’s how the creators of Darkleaks, a easily.” compensates them potentially for the “black market where you can sell The whistleblower website, hosted loss of their career,” Masters told information,” imagine the next gener- on Amazon Web Services’ cloud, lets Fairfax. ation of whistleblowers will operate. employees anonymously report fraud Masters is trialling FraudSec’s The impact of whistleblowers today from their smartphone or desktop service and has also vetted whistle- has never been greater: from Edward browser over an encrypted connection. blower services provided to his clients Snowden’s revelations about mass Once received, files are encrypted by “big four” accounting firms. He surveillance to the HSBC employee

8 The Whistle, #83, July 2015 who exposed the bank’s efforts to help seller claims his or her bitcoins, a key in the financial industry. He says that clients evade hundreds of millions of will be released allowing the buyer to those wanting to expose wrongdoing dollars in tax payments. decrypt the document in question. have expressed a need for more secure But not all leaks are in the public It’s just one of a series of “plat- channels through which to do so. interest. For example there has also forms” for leaking sensitive infor- “There is a need for whistleblowers been a sharp rise in malicious leaks, mation which have appeared in recent to confidentially and securely share such as the 500 private photographs of years. From WikiLeaks to the Guard- information with news media, attor- celebrities which were distributed ian newspaper’s SecureDrop software, neys, the government or whoever online last August. there are now many technological might be the right person to get it,” he Darkleaks could facilitate all kinds portals to which leakers may turn in an says. “With everything we know about of disclosure, positive and negative, effort to get a burning secret out. And cellphones and the internet, there’s no via an anonymous marketplace. The projects such as GlobaLeaks hope to sure-fire way to do that right now.” service is available to download online create a decentralised forum for the Some may question the darker side as a free software package and its release of information. of Darkleaks. One of the suggested source code has been published openly However, until now none of these disclosures that users could make via online via code-sharing website services has featured direct payment the service, according to its creators, is Github. Users can upload a file with a for a leak. the publication of “celebrity sex description that can be viewed by So is the financial aspect really pictures.” Already, one individual potential buyers browsing the market- necessary? Annie Machon, a former claims to be auctioning thousands of place. This is all done within the MI5 intelligence officer and whistle- passwords and private messages via software itself. blower, says it is unfortunate that the site, though this has not yet been Its developers say that individuals Darkleaks has equated whistleblowing verified. may wish to use the service to anony- with selling information. This is also For Edwards, this is where the mously auction off “trade secrets,” the opinion of Beatrice Edwards, definition of whistleblower breaks “military intelligence” and “proof of executive director of the Government down. “In distinction from a whistle- tax evasion” among other, rather more Accountability Project in the US. blower, a snitch or an informer pursues unsavoury, things. “When you’re selling information his or her own interest. Someone who you’re not really a whistleblower is selling information and needs to under the legislative legal definition in anonymise the exchange is probably almost any country,” she points out. someone who fits in to that category,” Only in special circumstances, such as she says. the US financial services, when Cody Wilson is an anarchist and co- whistleblowers may receive a cut of founder of Dark Wallet, a digital fines imposed on their corporations, bitcoin wallet which promises to make has this been enshrined in law. transactions practically impossible to However, Edwards adds that the trace. Wilson was not involved in the A dark secret current climate may encourage whis- development of Darkleaks but says he tleblowers to take unusual steps in has watched the service’s launch with Darkleaks promises to make trans- order to protect themselves and release interest. “It’s a necessary step for the actions for this sort of material information in the public interest. advancement of decentralised and anonymous. A blog post announcing block chain-based technologies,” he the tool insists: “There is no identity, Going underground says, arguing that corporations and no central operator and no interaction “We have seen in the US an increas- state dominance should be challenged between leaker and buyers.” ingly punitive attitude on the part of more aggressively by the public. Instead, the documents are broken the government towards whistleblow- Wilson achieved notoriety in 2012 into smaller chunks, encrypted by ers,” Edwards says. “This could force when he launched the Wiki Weapon Darkleaks and added to the bitcoin them into some underground exchange Project, which allowed anyone to block chain, a register of bitcoin of information like this because the download 3D printable guns via the payments. This is possible because Obama administration prosecutes na- internet. Will people suffer as a result minuscule bitcoin transactions can be tional security whistleblowers rather of unsavoury leaks made via used by anyone to store data in the than protecting them.” Darkleaks? “Without a doubt,” he block chain. Indeed, there are already Machon agrees. “You do need these says. “There are going to be victims.” services like Storj which offer to store sorts of groups,” she says. “We are data in bitcoin-style block chains in looking at a period of small, nimble this manner. information freedom fighters pushing Crucially, small pieces of a file up back against these homogenised corpo- for sale will be released to potential rate and state powers to protect our buyers so that they can verify its basic human rights.” contents before committing to a trans- James Young is an attorney at action for the whole thing. When they international law firm Morgan & have made that commitment, and the Morgan who represents whistleblowers

The Whistle, #83, July 2015 9 Doctors and teachers quiet and let people suffer. That’s not year, then immigration minister Scott appropriate.” Morrison used an anti-whistleblowing gagged under new “People can sometimes have their law against 10 Save the Children staff immigration laws contracts terminated, but I don’t recall on Nauru. Sarah Whyte anyone ever being threatened with The staff were referred to the Sydney Morning Herald imprisonment for speaking out,” Dr Australian Federal Police under section 4 June 2015, p. 12 Owler said. 70 of the Crimes Act after they were On Sunday, the AMA passed an accused of communicating privileged DOCTORS and teachers working in “urgency motion” at its national information to non-Commonwealth immigration detention facilities could conference, requesting that the federal workers. All accusations were later face up to two years in prison if they government review the Border Force dropped. speak out against conditions in the Act as a matter of urgency. It also Doctors for Refugees co-founder Dr centres or provide information to called for the government to amend the Richard Kidd said the new law was journalists, under sweeping new laws act to exempt medical practitioners taking away all transparency and to gag whistleblowers. who disclose, in the public interest, accountability. The Border Force Act, which was failures in healthcare delivery in “It is absolutely clear that doctors passed quietly on May 14 by both immigration detention centres, from and nurses are expected as part of their major parties, clamps down on prosecution. registration to put the best interests of “entrusted people” in detention centres The new law means doctors like Dr their patients first and that includes recording or disclosing information David Isaacs, who worked on Nauru advocating for [people] being denied about conditions in centres such as for the International Health and appropriate health services or being those on Nauru and Manus Island. Medical Service, could face jail time. abuse in some way,” he said. Under the heading of ”secrecy and Dr Isaacs told Fairfax Media in In a media release last month, disclosure provisions”, the act says February how shocked he was about Immigration Minister Peter Dutton releasing information is only permitted the conditions on Nauru, saying there said the wnew la would “further by the secretary of the department were not enough sanitary pads availa- strengthen the government’s ability to responsible for detention centres. ble to women, and children and protect Australia’s border.” women were forced to shower behind a A spokeswoman for Mr Dutton said flimsy curtain that often flew open in there were “appropriate mechanisms front of male guards. for reporting misconduct or malad- Lawyer George Newhouse said it ministration in place.” was unprecedented for the government The Public Interest Disclosure Act to target contractors for raising their 2013 provided protection for officials, concerns publicly. including contractors who wanted to “It is an extremely draconian law, report maladministration, the spokes- giving a department like Immigration woman said. ASIO-like secrecy powers,” he said. “Under the proposed measures, the “There is no justification for this unauthorised disclosures of infor- iron curtain which has been placed mation, including personal information around immigration detention other will be punishable by imprisonment than that the Commonwealth doesn’t Draconian act enforces for two years,” it says. The new law want Australians and the rest of the unhealthy silence will be enforced in July in conjunction world to know about the abominations Letters to the editor with the official merger of the that are taking place under their Sydney Morning Herald Immigration and Customs depart- watch.” 5 June 2015, p. 16 ments. “This is all about the minister Australian Medical Association wanting to cover up the government’s president Brian Owler, said this was mistakes, which go as far as murder the first time doctors had been threat- and sexual abuse, including child ened with jail time for revealing sexual abuse, [under its watch].” inadequate conditions for their patients The new law can be overridden by in immigration centres. the Public Interest Disclosure Act, “Clearly if doctors are moved to which allows officials and contractors speak out about issues then they to report maladministration. But should be able to do so,” he said. doctors are concerned that this exemp- Illustration: Alan Moir “That’s one of the responsibilities that tion may not include disclosing most doctors feel they have. inadequate health care of their patients. The Border Force Act, designed to gag “This puts most doctors in these This is not the first time people potential whistleblowers, forces doc- circumstances in a very difficult situa- working in immigration facilities have tors, teachers and others attempting to tion if they have to face two years’ been targeted for raising concerns assist in detention centres into an imprisonment for speaking out, or be about the conditions. In October last invidious situation. Speak out and risk

10 The Whistle, #83, July 2015 two years imprisonment, stay silent speak out against conditions in the Doctors must be allowed and watch people suffer. With the centres”. This is the beginning of a “entrusted people” now silenced, rights police state and very, very dangerous. to speak freely and conditions for those in detention Marty Morrison Bardwell Valley Nicholas Talley are also silenced. Sydney Morning Herald Stop the silence, Tony Abbott. I have often heard the mantra “If 9 June 2015, p. 18 Janice Creenaune Austinmer you’ve got nothing to hide, you’ve got nothing to fear” put out by govern- Having read some of the unauthorised ments to justify their surveillance and reports on conditions on Nauru, I have data retention policies. Now, under the serious concerns about the Border Border Force Act, doctors and teachers Force Act. The act does not just will face draconian penalties for provide protection for staff taking speaking out about conditions in justifiable actions in immigration detention centres. The little infor- detention centres, it also potentially mation we already receive indicates provides protection for thugs and that asylum seekers in these centres are The damp, hot conditions on Manus sexual predators, among both detainees often treated badly and their basic Island have led to serious skin conditions and increased risk of vector- and detention centre staff. And it had human rights often abused. borne diseases. bipartisan support. I just wonder, are our borders really George Rosier Carlingford much safer as a result of this type of AS A DOCTOR, my work is defined by

treatment of asylum seekers and examining the evidence and recom- A quiet little article tucked away on detainees? And if our government is so mending the solution. This applies page 12 informs that doctors and proud of what it’s doing in these whether I’m treating patients as a teachers working in our immigration centres, why is it trying so hard to hide gastroenterologist or advocating for “detention centres” could face jail for its activities from the public? change as the president of the Royal speaking out against conditions John Slidziunas Woonona Australasian College of Physicians. therein. This should be on page 1. The evidence from Australia's How has it come to this, that a If the banning of teachers, doctors and immigration detention centres is in. citizen can face jail for alerting us to others from speaking about conditions They seriously and irrefutably harm conditions that threaten the safety and in immigration detention centres isn’t the health of children and adults who health of people for whom we, via our yet another step towards totalitarian- have sought our protection. government, are responsible? The ism, then what would be? As a doctor, I cannot think of any history of recent years gives no confi- Norm Neill Darlinghurst other scenario in which my ability to dence that any of our government speak freely about serious harms being departments will inform us of these This government really is the limit. It inflicted on my patients would be conditions. is absolutely outrageous for a govern- restricted. Since the Howard era we have seen ment to be attempting to criminalise Refugees and asylum seekers have the increasing promotion of ignorance ethical professional behaviour. To complex needs as patients. Their expe- (especially via certain media outlets), think that it is the very same govern- riences in their countries of origin, as the instilling of fear, and the inciting of ment that not so long ago was loudly well as in fleeing persecution, often hatred in as many of the population as championing freedom of speech. result in complex disease, malnutrition, this cynical government can delude. Why doesn’t it just go the whole and developmental issues and severe And Labor has been depressingly hog and create a ministry of truth, then mental health concerns. complicit in this. To remain acquies- anyone critical of the government on Our immigration detention policy cent in this is to risk putting ourselves any grounds whatsoever could be takes these needs and exacerbates in the same group as those who so thrown into jail? them. energetically perpetrate these attacks Geoff Gordon Cronulla We know that detention, particu- on democracy and decent treatment of larly when it exceeds six months, leads people. to serious trauma. We know the damp, This continuous and stealthy hot conditions in Nauru and Manus removal of the checks on our govern- Island, in Papua New Guinea, have led ment puts us in a position where it is to serious skin conditions and in- excusable to examine parallels from creased risk of vector-borne diseases. darker times such as 1930s Germany. The reports of poor sanitation and open Peter Thompson Killara water sources dramatically increase the As someone who has lived in the risk of disease. We have seen one death in Manus Island from sepsis previous USSR, I shiver when I read, “Doctors and teachers working in from a cut foot. The statistics on immigration detention facilities could mental health conditions in detention face up to two years in prison if they are shocking in both adults and children.

The Whistle, #83, July 2015 11 And why do we have this evidence? I am appalled by this new law covered anyway. Moreover, Rimmer It’s because my colleagues, dedicated which will actively hinder us from told The Sydney Morning Herald that physicians and paediatricians working learning and speaking the truth about controversial material of the kind in these centres to provide the health harms inflicted on our patients. Urgent released by WikiLeaks is often under care the detainees so badly need, have amendments must be passed to ensure copyright, which means that the new been brave enough to speak out about appropriate protections for whistle- law could be used to censor infor- the sometimes appalling conditions blowers, and to allow doctors their full mation that was embarrassing, but in inside these centres. rights to advocate without threat of the public interest. Of course it would be better if imprisonment. The bill passed easily in both doctors did not have to be there, that The federal government needs to houses thanks to bipartisan support the centres would be closed, but while explain why it is intent on denying the from the Liberal and Labor parties: they remain open, it is my colleagues Australian public the knowledge it only the Australian Greens put up any who deliver the medical support. deserves about the reality of the harms fight against it. Bernard Keane ex- To date, they have spoken out in the caused by this policy. plains in an article on Crikey that the face of confidentiality agreements main argument for the new law — that which attempted to force their silence Nicholas Talley is the president of the it would save Australian jobs — is on return. Now, it seems, the govern- Australasian College of Physicians. completely bogus. Claims that film ment wants to jail them for speaking piracy was costing 6100 jobs every out. year don’t stand up to scrutiny: “If The quiet passing into law late last piracy were going to destroy 6000 jobs month of the Australian Border Force Australia passes in the arts sector every year, why is Act is an attempt to further restrict the controversial anti-piracy employment in the specific sub-sector Australian public’s access to the truth web censorship law that according to the copyright indus- about conditions in the immigration try is the one directly affected by Based on a bogus justification, and detention centres. piracy now 31,000, compared to easily circumvented using VPNs This law actively restricts the 24,000 in 2011?” Keane asks. Glyn Moody dissemination of any information As well as being based on a false Ars Technica, 22 June 2015 gleaned by staff or contractors premise, the new law will also be

(including medical staff) in the centres; ineffectual, since Australians can a law which threatens up to two years simply use web proxies and VPNs to imprisonment for any doctor (any circumvent any blocks that are person) who dares to disclose the imposed. This has raised the fear that reality of the conditions in the centre. the courts will go on to apply the new While there are caveats toe th re- law to VPN providers, although striction, including where someone Australia’s Communications Minister considers it necessary to save “the life Malcolm Turnbull has insisted this or health of an individual,” it entirely won’t happen. According to Torrent- forbids broader disclosure of infor- Freak, last week Turnbull said: “VPNs mation about conditions. have a wide range of legitimate

One of the most rewarding elements purposes, not least of which is the of my role as president of Royal A CONTROVERSIAL bill to allow preservation of privacy — something College of Physicians is as the chief websites to be censored has been which every citizen is entitled to advocate for the college’s work and passed by both houses of the Austral- secure for themselves — and [VPN priorities. I have made it a distinct ian parliament. The Copyright Amend- providers] have no oversight, control priority of my term to use this platform ment (Online Infringement) Bill 2015 or influence over their customers’ to advocate for the best possible allows companies to go to a Federal activities.” If Turnbull sticks to that patient care, and often to give a voice Court judge to get overseas sites view, it is likely that Australians will to the needs of those who otherwise blocked if their “primary purpose” is turn increasingly to VPNs to nullify wouldn’t be heard. facilitating copyright infringement. the new law. In that role, and as a doctor, I Dr Matthew Rimmer, an associate As Australian Greens Senator Scott cannot think of any other scenario in professor at the Australian National Ludlam wrote today, the real solution which my ability to speak freely about University College of Law, points out lies elsewhere: “The government is serious harms being inflicted on my that there is a lack of definitions within ignoring the opportunity to work with patients would be restricted. Indeed, I the bill: “What is ‘primary purpose’? content providers and remove the cannot conceive of any scenario in There’s no definition. What is ‘facili- reasons for people currently accessing which such a restriction might be tation’? Again, there’s no definition.” content through torrents and other tolerated. That’s dangerous, he believes, because sources. Just deliver content in a As doctors, the public relies on us to it could lead to “collateral damage,” timely and affordable manner, and examine and reflect on what is best for whereby sites that don’t intend to host piracy collapses.” our patients, and to speak up about any infringing material are blocked be- That’s no mere theory: survey after barriers to the best possible care. cause a court might rule they were survey shows that the approach is

12 The Whistle, #83, July 2015 already working elsewhere. It’s a pity ministrative burdens, vanishing tenure, Second, I was shocked that SBS that the Australian government didn’t a casualising workforce and despair at would act on Turnbull’s “offensive” pay more attention to those figures the commodification of what we still tag. Third, that anyone in this country, instead of the listening to the “foreign call “higher” education. In a way, but especially a journalist, could be rights holders and lobbyists who have that’s the least of it. Across journalism, sacked for voicing political opinion. collectively donated millions of dollars politics, agriculture, medicine, law, I was also shocked by the hypoc- to the Liberal and Labor parties,” human rights and teaching, the gags risy. It was SBS’ own, very fine series whom Ludlam claims have been the are growing in size, number and The Great Australian Race Riot by driving force behind the introduction efficacy. Sally Aitken and Peter FitzSimons, of the new law. Watching the film Citizenfour, I that detailed just how racist and violent was struck not only by Edward the World War I diggers were. Armed Snowden’s lucid courage but by his with guns, bayonets and flesh- misplaced confidence in the rest of us. shredding Gallipoli-originated ‘jam-tin The sound of silence Seeing his own disclosure as merely bombs’, they formed thousands-strong stifles our freedom the first brick from a Berlin wall of vigilante mobs in Brisbane (1919), Elizabeth Farrelly silence, Snowden was touchingly Broome (1920) and Kalgoorlie (1934) Sydney Morning Herald certain that, once his bit was done, to “defend” loyal royal white Australia 11 June 2015, pp. 20–21 we’d all follow. We’d all take our from the Russians, the Japanese and stones of silence and chuck them at the the Italian-Slavic communities, in jackbooted armies of spin, smugness Kalgoorlie burning 117 homes. and compliance. But most shocking of all was the casual response of others to my dismay. “Well duh,” was typical. “Everyone has a social media clause. You try saying something offensive, see how you get on.” It’s true. Professionals of all kinds now expect to be governed by social media clauses that specifically fetter their public opinions and sometimes even require public positive comment. This is terrifying. It’s like your boss has the right to advertise on your house — only worse, because it’s inside your head. It is thought-police territory and its ultimate effect is blanket self- censorship, where the threat barely SO YOU think you’re free to speak your needs to be explicit because an entire mind? Think again. We are, all of us, generation of young professionals has increasingly bubble-wrapped in the internalised its norms and accepted its sounds of silence. dictates. Silencing the intelligentsia has al- And even that’s just the tip of it. ways been totalitarianism’s tool of There’s the government’s tireless choice. But there’s only so much you How wrong he was. We watched in bullying of Human Rights Commis- can achieve with prisons and pig- silence, seeing Snowden, Assange and sioner Gillian Triggs for her staunch farms. Now, as public intelligence poor little Bradley Manning as a race public defence of both asylum seeker shrinks to a hoarse whisper, it seems apart: heroic figures to be admired, but rights and the rule of law, pretending corporatised culture may succeed not emulated. Even the term “whistle- that she’s the one playing politics, where more gun-pointed regimes have blowers” sets them apart, carrying with although both roles fall withinr he job failed. it our heartfelt hope not to be similarly as commissioner and her duty as a Silence is the sound of no hands called. citizen. clapping. But they’re not apart. They are all There’s the truly sinister Border The mindless din that now passes of us. Consider journalism. The sack- Force Act. Slipping unseen through for civil debate is generally attributed ing of SBS journo Scott McIntyre for parliament last month, it threatens to populism of one kind or another — his Anzac Day tweets was shocking on doctors, teachers and other contractors the internet, the market, democracy several fronts. First, I was shocked that assisting detained asylum seekers with itself. But perhaps that’s wrong. Malcolm Turnbull — who first came two years’ jail if they speak publicly Perhaps the silence is coming from the to intellectual prominence for defend- about conditions there. top. ing ex-spy Peter Wright’s right to tell As the government rhythmically It’s not just scholars and academics, the truth — had so thoroughly changed repeats, the innocent have nothing the increasingly silenced by ludicrous ad- sides. fear from scrutiny. So what exactly on

The Whistle, #83, July 2015 13 Manus and Nauru are they are so We can’t afford this. We need has asked not to be identified on the desperate to hide? Are the tales of democracy to work with intelligence basis she may be called as a witness by children being passed around “like and rich collective imagination. To the Independent Broad-based Anti- packets of cigarettes” actually true? speak freely in public is not just a Corruption Commission. There’s also the “ag gag” legislation right; it is a duty that should be currently before Senate. Disguised as constitutionally enshrined. Contractual an “Animal Protection” amendment to gags should be banned. Silence is the the Criminal Code, this bill is in fact sound of no hands clapping. designed to intimidate protesters. It gives individuals who record anything they regard as animal cruelty one day to report it — regardless of whether Members of Education the cruelty is real or the law known to Department lunch club Nino Napoli the person — or face a $5100 fine.

This can only exacerbate the animals’ had little fear of audits “It was a boys’ club, a ridiculous plight. The few brave women who tried to culture. If an audit found something There’s the huge, 12-nation Trans- blow the whistle were sidelined into that was not right, nothing seemed to Pacific Partnership agreement, so meaningless jobs, vilified or made happen.” powerful it will let US tobacco corpo- redundant. If measured by its control of money rations sue Australia for loss of and jobs, this little cabal was among “expected future profits” from plain Richard Baker and Nick McKenzie the most powerful in Melbourne. But packaging rules, but so secret even our The Age, 3 May 2015 until this week, few Victorians would governments can’t tell us about it, and have heard of the participants. Nor we know this only via Wikileaks. would they have known that the men And there’s the application of this had the power to make or break the same knee-jerk secrecy to city-making, careers of many of the state’s school where even with ultra-public buildings principals, or decide if an education like the Opera House, treat the public program should be funded or not. as the enemy — as in the cloak-and- The club’s most important members dagger design competition for a were Victorian Education Department Visitors Centre on the forecourt, where Jeff Rosewarne leaves an IBAC deputy secretary Mr Rosewarne, none of the schemes, including the hearing school finance boss Nino Napoli and, winner (by Rachel Neeson) were ever Photo: Vince Caligiuri to a lesser extent, regional director made public. John Allman.

At the very heart of the corruption Their relative anonymity outside scandal now ripping apart Victoria’s education circles was obliterated in Education Department was a small dramatic form over several days last group of senior men who regularly met week, when a major IBAC inquiry for lunch. exposed a series of allegedly corrupt Standing against the lunch club, or and criminal activities by the men, led trying to, were a few brave women by Mr Napoli. who tried to draw attention to the The inquiry has, in the manner of scandal; to blow the whistle on how many publicly staged corruption hundreds of millions of taxpayer exposes, included gruelling public dollars were flowing out of the state’s examinations, phone taps, seized None of this is legitimate. It’s not most disadvantaged schools, and into documents, bugged cafes and surveil- commercial-in-confidence. It is rule- the pockets of the mates and their lance photos. by-ignorance, and in excluding from families. On the first hearing day, Mr public debate everyone of knowledge, But when they raised their voices in Rosewarne’s reputation was shredded insight or learning it turns democracy protest, the women were pushed into and the public learned Mr Napoli dha into an emotive bloodbath run by spin- meaningless jobs, vilified or even been sacked. Day three brought Mr merchants and rabble-rousers. made redundant. They face a signifi- Allman’s sacking. By day five, IBAC It’s as though we have all tacitly cant problem: the person in the hierar- had thoroughly exposed the way Mr accepted the government’s view that chy they were supposed to report their Napoli and Mr Rosewarne used public “the media” is a bad and scary domain, concerns to was Jeff Rosewarne — the funds to buy wine, overseas travel and where be dragons. Say what you will Education Department’s deputy secre- expensive homewares. in private, but speak not your mind in tary, and the convener of the lunch All three now face the prospect of public, ye citizens, for fear of — what? club. serious criminal charges. Two primary Enriching the democratic debate? Im- “If you were a woman, over 45 and school principals implicated in the proving government? Making political asked questions, you were out,” said corruption scandal have been sus- progress? Heaven forbid. one former senior woman official, who pended.

14 The Whistle, #83, July 2015 Mr Napoli and Mr Rosewarne also always seemed they were above use of corporate cards by senior used their powerful departmental board,” he said. officials, such as Mr Rosewarne, was positions to shut down anyone who But not everyone was in the dark. allegedly told by Mr Rosewarne that dared question whether they were up to The Sunday Age can reveal that long her job was to be “restructured”. She no good. before IBAC got its teeth into the men went on leave and was then seconded In coming weeks, IBAC will unveil of the Education Department, some of to another government department. a further web of alleged corruption their colleagues tried to blow the “It was all lunches and mates. I was involving millions of dollars meant for whistle on alleged corruption. told once by Nino [Napoli] that I had schools being allegedly used to enrich Several women who have held to select a certain company for a tender Mr Napoli and some members of his senior positions in the department because Jeff [Rosewarne] had made a extended family, and to fund Mr claim they were made redundant, promise in a corporate box at the Rosewarne’s family travel and drink- pushed into meaningless jobs and AFL,” she said. ing habits. vilified when they tried to raise Yet another woman who worked One Education Department source integrity issues. Two sexual harass- closely with Mr Napoli for years said it who is closely watching the hearings ment claims against a former top male was well-known that banker schools and whose education program was official yet to appear before IBAC, were being used inappropriately when denied funding by Mr Allman told The who was also a member of the men- “you wanted to pay for something on Sunday Age: “Every child at a state only lunch club, also allegedly went the quiet so there was no trace at head school has been betrayed in the most nowhere. office.” fundamental way. Standing in the way of the women “If you asked questions you were “Perhaps what saps the morale of was Mr Rosewarne, the department’s told you were not a team player,” she the sector the most is that so much of deputy and then acting secretary, and said. the fraud was done at the expense of his friends. Each time women, partic- Mr Pearce said he expected — and disadvantaged children. These entitled ularly those in the audit, purchasing would welcome — major reforms men were drinking, partying, holiday- and finance areas of the department, following the IBAC hearings. ing and setting up their homes and began to question the so-called “Schools will be hammered with a families whilst disabled, disadvantaged “banker schools” where Mr much tougher regime of probity. This children and families were falling Rosewarne, Mr Napoli and Mr Allman has already been signalled to schools. through the widening gaps in educa- hid money, or how alcohol or trips Schools need to be much more alert to tion provision.” were being paid for, they were shut risk associated with dealing with Bendigo Senior Secondary College down. contractors, employment of family principal Dale Pearce, who is on One former senior official said “all members and acting for personal gain,” several departmental committees, said the women who blew the whistle were he said. people in the education sector were sent for counselling”. She described Before any reforms are announced, shocked by the IBAC revelations. one instance where several top women the lunch club members have weeks “There appears to be a range of found themselves relocated to the same more scrutiny to endure. Mr Rose- activity going on in that you wouldn’t office away from the department’s warne, who is on leave from his job as dream of engaging in at a school Treasury Place headquarters after a director of the Catholic Education level,” he said. raising concerns. Office, has claimed he did not recall “You were excluded from meetings, departmental monies being used to pay removed to other buildings and left to on behalf of the lunch club. rot,” she said. IBAC heard this week that it took eight months for Mr Allman to sign off an internal 2010 audit that found the department’s system of diverting millions of dollars into select “banker schools” was unlawful and presented a high risk of fraud. Despite its serious findings, the audit went nowhere.

Not the Victorian Education In another case, Fairfax Media last Department lunch club year revealed that Mr Rosewarne had not acted on a secret report to him that Mr Pearce stressed that the conduct revealed four of the department’s top exposed was not indicative of a culture officials, including Mr Allman, had of largesse in state schools, which he bought shares in a technology com- said often struggled to find resources. pany chosen to build the ill-fated “We would have no reason to Ultranet IT system. suspect that this sort of behaviour was Another woman who worked in the occurring. We were aware there were department’s accredited purchasing He also denied knowing companies Christmas parties and functions, but it unit tried to raise concerns about the associated with Mr Napoli and his

The Whistle, #83, July 2015 15 family had been receiving large de- terrorists. He was chased across mistake, he or she can expect to be partmental and school contracts since Europe, jailed in Paris, brought back to punished with hundreds of thousands the mid-1990s, despite several invoices London and jailed again. The message of pounds worth of legal costs and from these companies being addressed to other whistleblowers was chilling damages. to him. and clear. Our contempt of court laws are Mr Allman told IBAC he had met If the British criminal law can be equally restrictive. I became a reporter members of Mr Napoli’s immediate harsh, the civil law can be even more because of the Watergate scandal, family, but was unaware of any com- oppressive. When Julian Assange and I which began with the arrest of burglars mercial links to the department until he first agreed to set up the alliance of inside the Democrat party’s office. In was questioned by IBAC investigators. newspapers which published the the US, their brief appearance in court Those denials are likely to be secrets which had been given to the next day gave reporters a way into subject to scrutiny when the lunch Wikileaks by Chelsea Manning, we the story. In Britain, it would have club’s founding member, Mr Napoli, immediately decided to involve The closed the story down: we’re in con- finally takes the IBAC witness stand. New York Times as a kind of escape tempt of court if we publish anything route from the British courts. The US that could prejudice an upcoming trial. courts generally will not allow “prior All whistleblowers take risks. In restraint” of material which news Britain, those risks are particularly Everywhere in chains organizations intend to publish. In clear. Those who succeed tend to do so Nick Davies unpicks the myth of London, by contrast, it was clear that by seeing their role as a political one press freedom in Britain. the US could go to court, use the and coming out openly at some point New Internationalist magic words “national security” and so that they can become the focal point January/February 2015, p. 22 obtain an order to prevent the Guard- for a political campaign which can ian or any other British outlet from succeed (sometimes) in persuading the publishing. state not to wrap them in the legal Similarly, when representatives of chains which are so readily available. British intelligence indicated that they were going to come to the Guardian’s Nick Davies is an award-winning inves- office to physically destroy laptops on tigative journalist and documentary which we had stored some of the maker. His most recent book, Hack material which we had been given by Attack: How the Truth Caught Up with Rupert Murdoch, was published in Edward Snowden, the editor, Alan 2014. Rusbridger, took the precaution of The British press was born free but it ensuring that The New York Times had is everywhere in chains. Some of those a copy of the material. chains are financial. As the internet takes away our readers and advertisers, news organizations struggle to find the money to pay for basic news gathering and even more so for long, compli- cated investigations. Instead, they lapse into recycling PR and propa- ganda served up in neat packages by governments and corporations. Other chains are political. In every limb of the British state, the activity of the public sector is concealed by a blanket of official secrecy which is Britain is globally famous for its libel enforced by politicians and which laws. They are almost useless for most means quite simply that civil servants, genuine victims of media aggression police officers, care workers and others because they are so insanely expensive are banned from talking to reporters. to enforce. But they are highly effec- We are expected to take our tive instruments of suppression for the information from their press officers. rich and powerful who can afford But the tightest chains are legal. them. Crucially, they mean that it is That culture of official secrecy is not enough for British reporters to reinforced by an Official Secrets Act publish the truth: they also have to be which can be wheeled out to prosecute able to prove it in open court, which is whistleblowers from the state. David out of bounds for the kind of off-the- Shayler, for example, worked for the record sources who so often provide internal security service, MI5, and the most important information. And if went to a journalist to expose incom- a British reporter happens to make a petence in its operations against IRA

16 The Whistle, #83, July 2015 Kill the messengers Scientists say these rules have confused and Byzantine approach to Mark Bourrie muzzled them. Their complaints began the press, prioritizing message control when Environment Canada climatolo- and showing little understanding of the Extracts from Mark Bourrie’s book gist Mark Tushingham booked the importance of the free flow of scien- Kill the messengers: Stephen Harper’s National Press Theatre in Ottawa, tific knowledge.” assault on your right to know which is operated by the Parliamentary Scientists at the American Associa- (Toronto: HarperCollins, 2015), Press Gallery, for the launch of his tion for the Advancement of Science’s footnotes omitted novel Hotter Than Hell. Harper’s offi- annual conference in Vancouver in cials told Tushingham to cancel the 2012 signed a letter to Harper asking event, even though Hotter Than Hell the prime minister to let federal scien- — which is based on the idea, unpop- tists speak. They said they were proud ular in Tory circles, that climate of their work. “Why are we suppress- change is caused by humans — is a ing really good news to Canadians, work of fiction. that is, successful science being done in federal government labs?” Andrew Weaver, a climate scientist at the University of Victoria, said during the session. “Why don’t we open it up? There’s nothing to fear but success.” The letter that the scientists drafted was short. In part, it said: “Despite promises that your majority govern- ment would follow principles of accountability and transparency, fed- eral scientists in Canada are still not allowed to speak to reporters without the consent of media relations officers.” At the same conference, science journalist Margaret Munro told scien- LIKE MOST OTHER EXPERTS employed tists about reporters’ frustration in by the federal government, scientists January 2011 when flacks wouldn’t let have been gagged by strict rules laid them interview Kristin Miller, a biolo- down at the Centre. The Prime gist with Fisheries and Oceans Canada. Minister’s Office has crafted an Miller was the lead author of a study information control system that published in the journal Science that ensures no one in the government In March 2012, the journal Nature, one examined the decline of salmon stocks speaks without permission. Tory poli- of the world’s most prestigious science on the west coast. At first, media ticians and the public servants in the magazines, came down on the side of handlers in the fisheries department bureaucracy can’t do media interviews the muzzled scientists. In an editorial, had told reporters that they could talk unless the Prime Minister’s Office Nature told of the problems faced by to Miller. Harper’s department, the approves the Message Event Proposals its own reporters who had tried to Privy Council Office, stepped in and that lay out the content of the inter- write about Canadian science policies. blocked all interviews. The prime view, the length, and the visuals that Since President George W. Bush left minister’s communications wizards may be used. office, the United States had reversed said they were worried Miller might Until 2007, reporters could simply many of his restraints on government- say something to influence the ongoing call up scientists. Usually scientists employed scientists. At the same time, judicial inquiry into the decline of were interviewed after they had Canada had tightened them. “The sockeye salmon in the rivers of British published a paper about a discovery Harper government’s poor record on Columbia. they’d made. But starting that year, openness has been raised by this A few months earlier, reporters tried according to respected Postmedia publication before … and Nature’s to interview Edmonton-based Envi- writer Margaret Munro, one of the news reporters, who have an obvious ronment Canada researcher David handful of Canadian journalists who interest in access to scientific infor- Tarasick about the things he’d found specialize in science, the system mation and expert opinion, have expe- while researching the state of the hole changed. Environment Canada started rienced directly the cumbersome in the ozone layer above the Arctic. ordering scientists to refer media approval process that stalls or prevents Tarasick’s article “Unprecedented enquiries first to government media meaningful contact with Canada’s Arctic Ozone Loss in 2011” was handlers — people who were not publicly funded scientists,” the edito- published in Nature. Tarasick found scientists — who would help write rial said. “Policy directives and emails one of the largest ozone holes ever responses to the questions. obtained from the government through discovered above the Arctic, covering freedom of information reveal a two million square kilometres. He

The Whistle, #83, July 2015 17 warned that the ultraviolet light that it wasn’t science, and it wasn’t written In the 2012 budget, Finance Minister penetrates the atmosphere through the by anyone who had anything to do Jim Flaherty set aside $8 million to ozone hole is a threat to plants and with scientific research. pay for extra audits of environmental animals. Predictably, the Nature article Although then Environment Minis- groups to determine whether they got a lot of attention from the world’s ter Peter Kent said in the House of should be stripped of their charitable media. Commons, “We are not muzzling status. If they lost that status, the Media handlers in Tarasick’s own scientists,” Kent told a parliamentary environmental groups would no longer department gagged him for two weeks, committee that “circumstances simply be able to issue tax deduction receipts until reporters either found other did not work out” to allow Tarasick to to donors, which would severely hurt sources to talk about the problem or give interviews about his ozone hole their ability to raise money. The audits lost interest. When a Canadian reporter study. Whatever circumstances were at targeted the David Suzuki Foundation, asked for an interview, Tarasick wrote work, none of them seemed to involve Tides Canada, West Coast Environ- back in an email: “I’m available when Tarasick, who was more than willing mental Law, The Pembina Foundation, Media Relations says I’m available.” to chat. Environmental Defence, Équiterre, the Media Relations was no more Tarasick couldn’t talk because, just writers’ group PEN Canada and Ecol- helpful. “While an interview cannot be after Harper won his majority, the ogy Action Centre. Also targeted were granted, we are able to provide Prime Minister’s Office, in an effort to OXFAM and Amnesty International, additional information on the paper … control the environmental message, two foreign aid groups that many You may attribute these responses to had made it clear that loyal communi- Tories consider too left-wing. (p. 219) Dr. David Tarasick, Research Scien- cations wizards would decide what tist, Environment Canada.” The information went out of the Environ- department, it seems, wanted to inter- ment Ministry. In most cases, it turned pret the scientist’s findings and write out, there would be a written response them into its own words, then put to media questions crafted by grads of those words into Tarasick’s mouth. journalism schools and veterans of Tory campaigns, rather than the words of scientists. Previously, reporters had simply called up scientists to ask about their work. (pp. 185–189)

By the sixth year of the Harper regime, most scientists knew it was foolish and A bee die-in protest in Chicago, 2014: dangerous to try to buck the system. worth spying on? The Index on Censorship took a survey of four thousand Canadian scientists in Enemies of the state take all kinds of 2013. Only 14 per cent said they felt forms. Recently, Canada’s spies turned they would be able to share a concern their attention on people protesting the about public health and safety, or a disappearance of bees. The Global threat to the environment, without fear Operations Centre, a little-known spy of retaliation or censure from their group run by the prime minister’s staff, department or agency. (p. 192) watched the Bee Die In, held the same day as the speech from the throne in WHILE CSIS [Canadian Security Intel- October 2013 [Governor General’s ligence Service] and the RCMP [Royal speech opening parliament]. Agents David Tarasick took notes as people dressed as bees Canadian Mounted Police] don’t give and flowers pretended to die on the Documents released under the Access opponents of the Harper government front lawn of the Parliament Building, to Information regime show everyone the full bare-light-bulb-and-electrodes hoping to draw attention to the was in the information loop except secret police treatment, Ottawa does worldwide loss of pollinators. It was Tarasick. Spin strategy went all the have ways of making their lives miser- one of five protests that day that the way up the information food chain to able. For one thing, they can audit operations centre spied on. The the assistant deputy minister. One of critics’ tax returns, take away any information on the dead bee people the media handlers told Tarasick, “I charitable status and intimidate donors. was shared with U.S. intelligence just I wanted to let you know that Normally, the Canada Revenue agents. The other protests were a First proposed responses are with the ADM Agency audits about 10 per cent of the Nations Day of Action, an Idle No [assistant deputy minister] for review country’s charities, about eight More protest in Ottawa, and two shale right now.” Apparently not having had hundred groups, every year. Under gas protests in New Brunswick. any involvement with the preparation Canadian law, charities can’t use more And, of course, there are the of the proposed responses, Tarasick than 10 per cent of their money for government’s own employees, who, by replied to his handlers, “I haven’t advocacy or politics. Those charities the nature of their work, have the data given you any proposed responses.” So that can’t give tax deduction receipts and the expertise to do serious damage whatever the spinners were giving out, have a very hard time raising money.

18 The Whistle, #83, July 2015 to the Harper government. In March The government tabled documents tives in his department. Unsatisfied 2014, the federal cabinet imposed a in the House of Commons showing with their responses, he filed a court lifelong gag order on bureaucrats and that in its first six years in office it case. lawyers working in sensitive govern- made at least forty-four requests to As soon as Schmidt came forward, ment departments. Most of the gagged website-hosting companies to take he was suspended without pay. The public servants work, or have worked, down content from the Internet and to government argued that Schmidt in the Department of Justice and the wipee th material from Google’s violated solicitor-client privilege. The Privy Council Office. They face up to search engine. Almost all of those suspended lawyer said in court, “It’s fourteen years in prison if they ever requests were made between 2010 and my position that solicitor-client privi- talk about their work. 2012. The Department of National lege is never available to protect illegal “The practical implication of this is Defence made the largest number of instructions.” that it puts a terrific chill on the these demands. Some seemed reasona- possibility of drawing on practitioner ble. The government asked Facebook expertise, particularly the retired prac- to take a federal logo off of a page set titioners, to contribute to any kind of up by supporters of a federal prisoner. debate on intelligence and security It also tried to protect information matters in Canada if people followed about people who were applying for the letter of the law,” Wesley Wark, a refugee status. Those files normally University of Ottawa professor and weren’t available to web surfers, but one of Canada’s leading experts in smart users of Google could extract national security and espionage, told a them. Some other requests seemed Toronto Star reporter. He said Canada more political. For example, Environ- needs “those voices more than ever” ment Canada demanded the removal of since 9/11 and the revelations of out- two Netelligent parody websites that of-control spying, wiretapping and spoofed the department’s own site. “I computer hacking revealed by Snow- think what we are seeing is that the den and other whistle-blowers. departments are becoming increasingly “Special operational information,” politicized,” New Democrat MP which can never be shared with the Charlie Angus said. “They are being public, is loosely defined in this run by the 20-some-year-olds who are federal law as the identity of persons the political shock troops of the prime or groups approached as confidential minister.” sources by police or security agencies, Plumbers, ratfuckers, whatever Edgar Schmidt Canada’s rplans fo military operations, they’re called in Ottawa these days, the country’s methods for collecting they’re always on the hunt for people “The day after the filing of this intelligence, the target of any investi- who spill the government’s secrets or statement, bang: ‘You’re suspended’,” gation, or the identity of spies. But it show signs of disloyalty. The Tories Federal Court judge Simon Noël noted also includes “information or intelli- were big friends of whistle-blowers after each side made its case in gence similar in nature” to those when the Liberals were in power. Now Schmidt’s wrongful dismissal lawsuit. categories received by or relating to they’re treated as enemies of the state. The judge said the federal government any foreign entity, such as the NSA. Whistle-blowing has become so had stripped sixty-year-old Schmidt of “The security and intelligence com- commonplace that there’s now an his income and, probably more munity has certain operational re- organization, FAIR, that gives aid and importantly for a lawyer, his good quirements that need to be respected,” comfort to those who come forward reputation. “It’s unbelievable,” Noël a government notice of the new rules from the ranks of the public service told the government’s lawyer. “Your said. “[This] order enables the Gov- and from corporate offices to expose client has done everything it can to kill ernment of Canada to provide addi- corruption and stupidity. this thing. The court doesn’t like that tional assurances to its international Still, some whistle-blowers fight on. … We see that in different countries partners and allies that special opera- In 2012, Department of Justice lawyer and we don’t like it … Canada is still a tional information shared with Canada Edgar Schmidt challenged his own democracy.” will be protected.” This suggests the department in Federal Court. He had The Harper government would soon regulation was made at least partly been a whistle-blower who revealed show how it felt about courts that get because of Canada’s intelligence details about the guidelines used by in the way of its plans. (pp. 281–284) commitments to the United States and federal lawyers to draft legislation. other allies, especially in the wake of Schmidt, who had been writing the 2013 sentencing of Sub-Lt. Jeffrey parliamentary bills for a decade, said Paul Delisle, a former naval officer lawyers in the Justice Ministry knew based in Halifax, and Ottawa, for some of these bills violated the Charter selling state secrets to the Russians. He of Rights, but the government did not was given a twenty-year sentence. warn Parliament. Schmidt took his worries to the top lawyers and execu-

The Whistle, #83, July 2015 19 Whistleblowers Australia contacts Whistleblower apps On pages 7 to 9 are two stories about whistleblower apps. Postal address PO Box U129, Wollongong NSW 2500 An app or application is a computer program, and can be Website http://www.whistleblowers.org.au/ thought of as an electronic tool. Like any tool, care is New South Wales required in both choosing and using it. “Caring & sharing” meetings We listen to your story, There’s a risk in assuming that an app provides safety in provide feedback and possibly guidance for your next few whistleblowing. The apps described in the articles give the steps. Held by arrangement at 7.00pm on the 2nd and 4th promise of maintaining anonymity. Using a good app is just Tuesday nights of each month, Presbyterian Church one part of achieving this. (Crypt), 7-A Campbell Street, Balmain 2041. Ring I’m very much in favour of leaking — and remaining beforehand to arrange a meeting. anonymous — whenever possible. This is because reveal- Contact Cynthia Kardell, phone 02 9484 6895, ing your identity opens you to reprisals. Furthermore, as [email protected] soon as your identity is known, your access to information will be cut off. In addition, the reprisals turn the story into Wollongong contact Brian Martin, phone 02 4221 3763. one about you and your motives and supposed failings, and Website http://www.bmartin.cc/dissent/ not about the matter you spoke out about. In contrast, by

Queensland contacts Feliks Perera, phone 07 5448 8218, remaining anonymous you can avoid reprisals, maintain [email protected]; Greg McMahon, phone 07 access to information and keep the focus on the problem. 3378 7232, [email protected] However, remaining anonymous is not easy. You have to be able to keep a secret — namely that you are a leaker — Tasmania Whistleblowers Tasmania contact, Isla and not everyone can do this. You need to ensure there is MacGregor, phone 03 6239 1054, [email protected] no electronic trail that can lead back to you. For example, if

Schools and teachers contact Robina Cosser, you leak to a journalist, the police can use the new data [email protected] retention laws to look through the journalist’s telephone records. If you used your phone to ring the journalist, you Whistle will become a candidate for further scrutiny and investiga- Editor: Brian Martin, [email protected] tion. If you anticipated this possibility, you might have Phones 02 4221 3763, 02 4228 7860 decided to use a public phone or perhaps Skype from a Address: PO Box U129, Wollongong NSW 2500 library computer. Associate editor: Don Eldridge The key thing is to think ahead to how you might be Thanks to Cynthia Kardell for proofreading. tracked down, and avoid methods that provide revealing clues. You need to be careful in choosing which documents to leak, in the way you present yourself to co-workers, in text that you write, and in who you decide should receive your leaks. It’s not easy, but there are great benefits. For more information, see “Leaking: practicalities and politics,” http://www.bmartin.cc/dissent/documents/rr/leaking.pdf Brian Martin

Whistleblowers Australia membership

Membership of WBA involves an annual fee of $25, payable to Whistleblowers Australia. Membership includes an annual subscription to The Whistle, and members receive discounts to seminars, invitations to briefings/ discussion groups, plus input into policy and submissions. To subscribe to The Whistle but not join WBA, the annual subscription fee is $25. The activities of Whistleblowers Australia depend entirely on voluntary work by members and supporters. We value your ideas, time, expertise and involvement. Whistleblowers Australia is funded almost entirely from membership fees, donations and bequests.

Send memberships and subscriptions to Feliks Perera, National Treasurer, 1/5 Wayne Ave, Marcoola Qld 4564. Phone 07 5448 8218, [email protected]

20 The Whistle, #83, July 2015