Federal Parliament has finally passed landmark legislation to protect public servants who blow the whistle on government corruption and maladministration.
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The legislation sets the Commonwealth Ombudsman to ''look over the shoulder'' of government departments and agencies as they deal with whistleblowers.
The federal government says the measures mean reports of wrongdoing will the handled properly and whistleblowers will be protected from adverse consequences for speaking out.
Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said the legislation would help build a culture of disclosure across the public sector.
''It provides a clear set of rules for agencies to respond to allegations of wrongdoing made by current and former public officials, and strengthens protections against victimisation and discrimination for those speaking out,'' he said.
Political scientist and anti-corruption researcher A J Brown, from Griffith University, described the legislation as a huge step.
"The crucial thing is that up until now public servants have been at the whim of how their agency wanted to respond without anybody really being in a position or without there being any real framework for looking over the shoulder of agencies to make sure they even thought about the welfare of their whistleblowers,'' Professor Brown said.
Professor Brown said the process for a government Bill, begun by Senator John Faulkner in 2008, was only completed when Mr Dreyfus became Attorney-General this year.
''Despite its rocky road, the Bill as redeveloped by Mr Dreyfus establishes the most comprehensive protection regime for public sector whistleblowers in Australia,'' he said.
''It also requires all federal agencies and entities to report disclosures made by public officials to the Commonwealth Ombudsman or Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security - the single biggest reform to the federal integrity system since creation of the Ombudsman's office itself, in 1976.
''Until now, there has been no effective, central co-ordination of how issues of wrongdoing are managed and monitored across the federal government.
''Australian Public Service rules cover only about half of all federal government employees, and leave the bulk of these sensitive issues up to individual agencies.''
Community and Public Sector Union national secretary Nadine Flood said the anti-corruption measures were long overdue.
