Whistleblowers could receive multimillion-dollar rewards for disclosing corporate and government wrongdoing under a plan being advocated by crossbench politicians, lawyers, academics and transparency bodies.

A similar arrangement in the United States has resulted in whistleblowers receiving rewards of up to $US104 million ($159 million), as was the case for former UBS banker Bradley Birkenfeld in 2012, which advocates said was often necessary because of the career damage caused by speaking out against wrongdoers.