Staff
Kieran Pender - Acting Legal Director
Kieran Pender is acting legal director at the Human Rights Law Centre and an internationally-recognised authority on whistleblower protections.
Since joining the Centre in 2020, Kieran has led the establishment of the Whistleblower Project, an Australia-first specialist legal service for whistleblowers, and authored The Cost of Courage: Fixing Australia’s Whistleblower Protections (2023) and co-authored Protecting Australia’s Whistleblowers: A Federal Roadmap (with Griffith University and Transparency International Australia, 2022). He was previously a senior legal advisor with the International Bar Association's Legal Policy & Research Unit in London, where he co-authored several leading reports on whistleblower protections. He has also consulted to the CEELI Institute in Prague and spoken on whistleblowing issues at the United Nations, World Bank, European Parliament and OECD.
Kieran graduated with the university medal from The Australian National University (ANU), and is currently completing a Master of Laws at the University of Melbourne. He an honorary lecturer at the ANU College of Law, where he convenes two courses (Federal Judicial System and Conflict of Laws) and publishes research in Australia's leading law journals.
Kieran is an award-winning writer, contributing to publications including the Guardian, The Monthly and the New York Times. He has reported from across the globe and covered the Olympics, Women's World Cup, Men's World Cup and the Tour de France. Kieran serves on numerous boards and committees: he is deputy chair of sports non-profit Women Onside, an independent member of the Victorian Courts Council's Health, Safety and Culture Committee, and a member of the Law Council of Australia's Equal Opportunity Committee, the Law Society of New South Wales' Diversity and Inclusion Committee, and the advisory council of the Global Institute for Women's Leadership. He also volunteers with Redfern Legal Centre's Employment Rights Legal Service.
Kieran was named Young Lawyer of the Year in 2021 by the ACT Law Society and won Pro Bono/Community Lawyer of the Year at Lawyer's Weekly 30 Under 30 Awards in 2022. He was the ANU's 2022 Young Alumnus of the Year.
The key public service issues to shape 2024
Canberra Times 5 February 2024
Labor talks the talk on transparency. This year, can it walk the walk?
Crikey 22 January 2024
It’s a travesty McBride had to plead guilty, but the public want whistleblower reform
Crikey 21 November 2023
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese lagging on whistleblower protections
Canberra Times 7 October 2023
Are we a nation that persecutes people who tell the truth?
Crikey 12 September 2023
Why whistleblowers make the public service a better place
The Mandarin 29 August 2023
How to protect whistleblowers
The Saturday Paper 26 August 2023
It’s crucial for press freedom that whistleblowers are protected, not punished
The Sydney Morning Herald 3 May 2023
Whistleblowers need protection
The Saturday Paper March 2023
It is not in the public interest to jail people for telling the truth. Labor must end these whistleblower cases
The Guardian 8 February 2023
Whistleblower protection must not be an afterthought – it is the main game of integrity
The Guardian 23 November 2022
The prosecution of David McBride for exposing Australian war crime allegations is an outrageous injustice
The Guardian 27 October 2022
On trial for bravely telling the truth
Sydney Morning Herald 14 October 2022
On trial for telling the truth
The Saturday Paper 9 July 2022
Justice for Bernard Collaery must be the beginning of decisive action on whistleblowers
The Guardian 8 July 2022
Whistleblowing and the high cost of speaking up
The Law Society Journal 1 July 2022
Anti-protest laws are an affront to democracy. They have no place in Australia
The Guardian 22 June 2022
On World Press Freedom Day, will Australia’s major parties pledge to fix our whistleblowing law?
The Guardian 3 May 2022
Curbing our freedom: the NSW bill that should never have become law
Sydney Morning Herald 4 April 2022
Shooting the messengers
Australian Book Review April 22
The State of Digital Rights - with Lucie Krahulcova
2021 State of Digital Rights Report 7 March 2022
We must protect whistleblowers, not punish them
Crikey December 20 2021
With truth on trial, the Attorney-General’s High Court bid for secrecy is dangerous
Sydney Morning Herald December 7 2021
Inside Bernard Collaery’s trial
The Saturday Paper December 4 2021
Whistleblower protections have never been more urgent
Canberra Times November 26 2021
A win for transparency, but now Collaery prosecution must be dropped
The Age October 2021
Australia has prosecuted a brave individual. People who speak up keep getting arrested
The Guardian June 19 2021
Australia takes China to task for secret trials, but one could be happening here right now
Sydney Morning Herald June 8 2021
There is no place for secret trials in Australia
Canberra Times May 17 2021
Addressing misconduct should not be a crime
Canberra Times May 3 2021
The cost of courage: Australia must do more to protect whistleblowers
The Age December 18 2020