Update on Public Interest Disclosure Legislation
LG Leader June 2018
As readers may recall, the Public Interest Disclosure Bill 2016 (“the 2016 Bill”), which was deadlocked in Parliament last year, was set to replace the Whistleblowers Protection Act 1993.
The 2016 Bill proposed significant changes to the integrity framework including an alignment of definitions with those contained in the Independent Commissioner Against Corruption Act 2102, specific duties to assess and act on disclosures, and criminal penalties for disclosing the identity of an informant.
However, the 2016 Bill was laid aside in the Legislative Council in late 2017 after the two (2) Houses of Parliament could not agree on amendments affording protection to informants who made disclosures to the media in certain circumstances.
It should be recalled that it was the Government of the day, being the Labor Government, that did not support disclosures to the media and subsequently ‘blocked’ the amendments made to the 2016 Bill in relation to the same, using its majority in the House of Assembly.
You can read our detailed LG Reporter article on the 2016 Bill here and our LG Alert regarding it being laid aside here.
Fast-forward to 16 May 2018, the newly installed Liberal Government and in particular, the new Attorney-General the Hon. Vickie Chapman, has introduced the Public Interest Disclosure Bill 2018 (“the 2018 Bill”).
The 2018 Bill is drafted in largely the same terms as the 2016 Bill that was laid aside, albeit goes slightly further insofar as it also defines the terms “journalist” and “news medium” for the purposes of identifying to whom an appropriate disclosure may be made.
You can see the 2018 Bill, as introduced into the House of Assembly, here and the Attorney-General’s Second Reading speech here.
Whilst no debate has yet been had on the 2018 Bill, we confirm that we will continue to keep you updated as it proceeds through Parliament.
If you have any questions, please contact Tracy Riddle at triddle@kelledyjones.com.au or call 08 8113 7106.