WA Opposition Leader Mike Nahan has defended the Liberal Party's new website calling on whistleblowers to dob in dodgy public servants and politicians as legal and appropriate in a democracy.
However, an expert in whistleblower protection laws has warned that going to Dr Nahan rather than "proper channels" such as the police would theoretically not be legally protected under the public interest disclosure act.
The Liberals have faced criticism over the wawhistleblowers.com website and its simple appearance, including claims that it would be vulnerable to cyber criminals who could access it.
But Dr Nahan said it was protected by encryption, and he would refer any examples of illegal behaviour to police or the Corruption and Crime Commission.
"It's not a flash website, it doesn't have all the bells and whistles, but it's functional, relevant, encrypted and to the point," he said.
"The leader of the opposition is the major conduit for whistleblowers to hold government to account, it's one of our major functions, and this is just a tool to do it that is encrypted and protected."
Griffith University public policy professor AJ Brown warned people to be careful using the site, especially if they were public servants armed with confidential and sensitive whistleblower allegations about illegal behaviour.
In other states there was protection for going to MPs, but in WA there was not, he said.
"What are my protections if anybody came after me for providing this information?" he told ABC radio.
"If you're a public official in Western Australia and you have got concerns about most of the things listed on that website and you want to raise them with somebody, you won't get legal protection from defamation or a confidentiality breach or whatever under the legislation ... if you use this website."
The Labor government referred the site to the state solicitor's office to check its legality, which Dr Nahan cited as proof it was important and relevant.
The wawhistleblowers.com site, which first appeared on Tuesday, calls on people to make submissions about public servants they see engaging in misconduct including corruption, wasting taxpayer money and gross mismanagement.
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