Public Interest Disclosures

Amendments to the Public Interest Disclosures Act

A review of the Public Interest Disclosures Act 2002 conducted during 2009 has resulted in amendments to the current Act.  These amendments create a new approach which is aimed at:

• further encouraging and facilitating the exposure of improper conduct in the public sector;
• ensuring public interest disclosures are properly handled and investigated; and
• ensuring appropriate protections are in place for the parties concerned.

The amendments will:

• Broaden the scope of the Act to encompass a greater range of public interest disclosures by expanding the definition of improper conduct, which will provide coverage to a greater range of persons.
• Expand the definition of public body and public officer to cover conduct within a more broadly defined public sector, and to provide protection to more people.
• Clarify when a disclosure is not protected or does not need to be investigated.
• Expand the function of the oversight agency (the Ombudsman) to include greater monitoring, advice, direction and education roles.
• Improve public sector agency internal procedures for receiving and handling disclosures.
• Provide for a process of appointing public interest disclosure officers in each public sector agency to deal with disclosures.
• Provide timelines for investigations to ensure they are completed in a timely manner.
• Improve the protections and access to protections available to persons making a disclosure, as well as ensuring natural justice principles are applied when dealing with the subject of the disclosure.
• Allow for disclosures to be made to the Integrity Commission.
• Allow for referral to and from the Integrity Commission in certain circumstances.

The amendments also take into account the establishment of the Integrity Commission, which commenced operation on 1 October 2010.

When do these amendments commence?

These amendments came into force at the same time as the Integrity Commission Act 2009 commenced, that is 1 October 2010. 

The Public Interest Disclosures Act 2002 can be viewed on this website and now includ of the amendments from this process.

Implementation of the amendments

Implementation is being managed by the Department of Justice.

Implementation includes:

• Redevelopment of the Ombudsmans Guidelines
• Redevelopment of the suggested procedures.

(These are available on the Office of the Ombudsman Website) 

• Delivery of training for State Servants.

(Training session were run throughout April and May 2010, at this stage no further training is scheduled.)

Further information and assistance

For further information about implementation contact Dale Webster by email at legislation.development@justice.tas.gov.au

Or for information about PID as it currently stands, including the current guidelines and model procedures, contact the Office of the Ombudsman on 1800 001 170.

Bulletins

The Implementation Team issued Bulletins to all public authorities in the lead up to the training, these give overview information about the changes. 

Bulletin One  (pdf version 5 pages)

Bulletin Two  (pdf version 4 pages)