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How to make a Public Interest Disclosure
Introduction
The purpose of the Public Interest Disclosures Act 2002 (the Act) is to encourage and facilitate the making of disclosures about the improper conduct of public officers or public bodies. The Act provides protection to persons who make disclosures in accordance with the Act, and establishes a system by which the matters disclosed can be investigated and action to rectify any deficiencies can be taken.
The Department of Treasury and Finance is committed to the aims and objectives of the Act. It does not tolerate improper conduct by its employees, nor the taking of reprisals against those who come forward to disclose such conduct.
The Department recognises the value of transparency and accountability in its administrative and management practices, and supports the making of disclosures that reveal corrupt conduct, conduct involving a substantial mismanagement of public resources, or conduct involving a substantial risk to public health and safety or the environment.
The Department will take all reasonable steps to protect people who make such disclosures from any detrimental action in reprisal for making the disclosure. It will also afford natural justice to the person who is the subject of the disclosure.
These procedures establish a system for reporting disclosures of improper conduct or detrimental action by Department of Treasury and Finance or its employees.
What is a Public Interest Disclosure?
Employees and contractors or former contractors are encouraged to report known or suspected incidences of improper conduct, corrupt conduct or detrimental action.
1. Improper conduct:
- conduct that is corrupt (see below);
- a substantial mismanagement of public resources; or
- conduct involving substantial risk to public health or safety or to the environment.
The conduct must be serious enough to constitute, if proved, a criminal offence or reasonable grounds for dismissal.
Examples include:
- ignoring or concealing evidence of illegal activities;
- delaying or declining to perform an administrative action in order to provide a financial (or other) advantage to oneself or another person; or
- not reporting practices or activities that pose a substantial risk to public health or safety, or to the environment.
2. Corrupt conduct:
- conduct of any person (whether or not a public official) that adversely affects the honest performance of a public officer’s or public body’s functions;
- the performance of a public officer’s functions dishonestly or with inappropriate partiality;
- conduct of a public officer, former public officer or a public body that amounts to a breach of public trust;
- conduct by a public officer, former public officer or a public body that amounts to the misuse of information or material acquired in the course of the performance of their official functions; or
- a conspiracy or attempt to engage in the above conduct.
Examples include:
- taking a bribe or receiving a payment other than wages or salary in exchange for the discharge of a public duty; or
- favouring unmeritorious applications for jobs or permits by friends and relatives; or
- selling confidential information.
3. Detrimental action.
The Act makes it an offence for a person to take or threaten detrimental action against a person in reprisal for a protected disclosure (s.19). Detrimental action includes:
- action causing injury, loss or damage;
- intimidation or harassment; and
- discrimination, disadvantage or adverse treatment in relation to a person’s employment, career, profession, trade or business, including the taking of disciplinary action.
Examples include:
- refusing the deserved promotion of a person who makes a disclosure;
- demoting, transferring, isolating in the workplace or unreasonably changing the duties of a discloser as a result of making a disclosure;
- threats, abuse or other forms of harassment directly or indirectly made against the discloser, his or her family or friends; or
- discriminating against the discloser or his or her family and associates in subsequent applications for jobs, permits or tenders.
Who may make a Public Interest Disclosure?
Public Interest Disclosures may only be made by current State Service employees, or by contractors or former contractors who have (or have had) a contract with Department of Treasury and Finance for the supply of goods or services.
Reporting improper or corrupt conduct or detrimental action – what you should do
Making a report to the Ombudsman
A disclosure about improper conduct or detrimental action by the Department of Treasury and Finance or its employees, may be made directly to the Ombudsman:
The Ombudsman
99 Bathurst Street
Hobart Tasmania 7000
(DX 210174)
Internet: www.justice.tas.gov.au/ombudsman
E-mail: ombudsman@justice.tas.gov.au
Tel: 6233 6217
Toll Free: 1800 001 170
Making a report to contact persons within the Department
Disclosures of improper conduct or detrimental action by employees of the Department of Treasury and Finance may also be made to the following officers:
| 1. Don Challen | Secretary of the Department of Treasury and Finance
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| 2. The Protected Disclosure Coordinator: | Assistant Director,
Office of the Secretary,
21 Murray Street Hobart
Tel: 6233 2071 |
Alternative Contact Persons
The following table sets out alternative persons to whom disclosures may be made.
| Person/Body who is the subject of the disclosure | Person/Body to whom the disclosure must be made |
| Member, officer or employee of a public body (other than the police force) | That public body, or
State Service Commissioner (if applicable) or
The Ombudsman |
| Public body | The Ombudsman |
| Member of the police force | The Commissioner of Police |
| The Commissioner of Police | The Ombudsman |
| Member of Parliament (Legislative Council) | President of the Legislative Council |
| Person/Body who is the subject of the disclosure | Person/Body to whom the disclosure must be made |
| Member of Parliament (House of Assembly) | Speaker of the House of Assembly |
| Councillor | The Ombudsman |
Reporting improper conduct or detrimental action
Any person wishing to report improper or corrupt conduct or any detrimental action should fill out a Public Interest Disclosures Lodgement Form and e-mail / mail the completed form to the Protected Disclosure Coordinator. You should be aware that all correspondence, phone calls and e-mails from internal or external disclosers will be referred to the Protected Disclosure Coordinator in the first instance.
Where a person is contemplating making a disclosure and is concerned about approaching the Protected Disclosure Coordinator in the workplace, he or she can call the relevant officer and request a meeting in a discreet location away from the workplace.
Confidentiality
The Act requires any person who receives information due to the handling or investigation of a protected disclosure, not to disclose that information except in certain limited circumstances (section 23 of the Act). Disclosure of information in breach of section 23 constitutes an offence that is punishable by a maximum fine of 60 penalty units ($6 000) or six months imprisonment or both.
The circumstances in which a person may disclose information obtained about a protected disclosure include:
- when exercising the functions of the public body under the Act;
- when making a report or recommendation under the Act;
- when publishing statistics in the Department’s Annual Report; and
- in criminal proceedings for certain offences in the Act.
The Act also prohibits the inclusion of particulars in any report or recommendation that is likely to lead to the identification of the discloser. The Act also prohibits the identification of the person who is the subject of the disclosure in any particulars included in an annual report.
The Department accepts that maintaining confidentiality is crucial in ensuring reprisals are not made against a discloser and, as a result, the Department will take all reasonable steps to protect the identity of the discloser.
The Department will ensure all files, whether paper or electronic, are kept securely and can only be accessed by those involved in managing or investigating the protected disclosure. All materials relevant to an investigation, such as tapes from interviews, will be stored securely with the files. All phone calls and meetings in relation to a protected disclosure will be conducted in private.
Keeping the discloser informed
The Protected Disclosure Coordinator will ensure the discloser is kept informed of action taken in relation to his or her disclosure, and the time frames that apply. If the disclosure leads to a formal investigation, the discloser will be informed of the objectives of the investigation, the findings of the investigation, and the steps taken by the Department to address any improper conduct that has been found to have occurred.
The discloser will be given reasons for decisions made by the Department in relation to a protected disclosure, and all communication with the discloser will be in plain English.
Management of the person against whom a disclosure has been made
The Department of Treasury and Finance recognises that employees against whom disclosures are made must also be supported during the handling and investigation of disclosures. The Department will take all reasonable steps to ensure the confidentiality of the person who is the subject of the disclosure during the assessment and investigation process. Where investigations do not substantiate disclosures, the fact that the investigation has been carried out, the results of the investigation, and the identity of the person who is the subject of the disclosure will remain confidential.
The Protected Disclosure Coordinator will ensure the person who is the subject of any disclosure investigated by or on behalf of a public body is:
- informed as to the substance of the allegations;
- given the opportunity to answer the allegations before a final decision is made;
- informed as to the substance of any adverse comment that may be included in any report arising from the investigation; and
- has his or her defence set out fairly in any report.
Where the allegations in a disclosure have been investigated, and the person who is the subject of the disclosure is aware of the allegations or the fact of the investigation, the Protected Disclosure Coordinator will formally advise the person who is the subject of the disclosure of the outcome of the investigation.
The Department will give its full support to a person who is the subject of a disclosure where the allegations contained in a disclosure are clearly wrong or unsubstantiated. If the matter has been publicly disclosed, the Secretary of the Department will consider any request by that person to issue a statement of support setting out that the allegations were clearly wrong or unsubstantiated.
 Public Interest Disclosure Form
 Public Interest Disclosure Form
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