Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—I move amendments (1) to (3) on Sheet ZB203:

(Government)

(1) Schedule 1, item 3, page 4 (after line 25), after subsection 29(2A), insert:

(2B) To avoid doubt, if a disclosure includes information that tends to show (or that may tend to show) disclosable conduct, the disclosure is not prevented from being a public interest disclosure only because:

(a) the disclosure includes other information; and

(b) the other information tends to show (or may tend to show) personal work-related conduct.

(2) Schedule 1, item 11, page 8 (after line 4), after subsection 43(4), insert:

(4A) To avoid doubt, if a disclosure includes information that tends to show (or that may tend to show) disclosable conduct, there might be a reasonable basis on which the disclosure could be considered to be an internal disclosure even if:

(a) the disclosure includes other information; and

(b) the other information tends to show (or may tend to show) personal work-related conduct.

Note: A disclosure may include information relating to a number of instances of conduct, some of which may be considered disclosable conduct, and some of which may not (for example, because that conduct is personal work-related conduct). Paragraph (4)(a) does not apply if one or more of those instances provide a reasonable basis on which the disclosure could be an internal disclosure under section 26.

(3) Schedule 1, item 11, page 11 (after line 33), at the end of paragraph 44A(3)(a), add:

(iii) if subparagraph (ii) does not apply—any courses of action that might be available to the discloser under another law or power; and

I also table a replacement explanatory memorandum relating to this bill and I table a supplementary memorandum relating to the government amendments to be moved to this bill.

The amendments on Sheet ZB203 would clarify the operation of the personal work related conduct provisions and insert a notification obligation on authorised officers where they decide not to allocate a disclosure because there is no reasonable basis upon which it could be considered an internal disclosure.

I will briefly outline amendments on sheet ZB203. Amendments (1) and (2) relate to personal work related conduct. The government is proposing two amendments to the Public Interest Disclosure Amendment (Review) Bill 2022 to clarify the operation of the personal work related conduct provisions. Disclosures of integrity related wrongdoing are often accompanied by allegations of other personal workplace related conduct. The first two amendments would insert an avoidance of doubt provision to clarify how the framework will operate where a person makes a mixed disclosure that contains elements of both personal work related conduct such as an allegation of bullying, harassment or undue performance management, and integrity related wrongdoing such as fraud, corruption or maladministration.

The first amendment will make clear for whistleblowers and agencies that mixed disclosures are not prevented from being a public interest disclosure, only because the disclosure includes information that tends to show personal work related conduct. The second amendment will provide greater clarity for authorised officers in agencies about how to handle mixed disclosures. The amendments will make clear for both whistleblowers and agencies that disclosures of integrity related wrongdoing will not be excluded from the Public Interest Disclosures Act framework only because they also contain a disclosure about personal work related conduct. The existing measures in the bill already have this effect. However, these amendments will put beyond doubt that the personal work related conduct provisions contained in the bill would operate to exclude only personal work related conduct from the PID Act. Importantly, the protections under the PID Act would continue to apply to public interest disclosures which include one or more instances of disclosable conduct, even if the disclosure also includes personal work related conduct.

Amendment 3 concerns notification obligations where an authorised officer decides not to allocate a disclosure because there is no reasonable basis on which it could be considered an internal disclosure. The government is proposing an amendment that would apply in circumstances where an authorised officer decides not to allocate the disclosure for investigation under the PID Act because the authorised officer is satisfied on reasonable grounds that there is no reasonable basis on which the disclosure could be considered an internal disclosure within the meaning of the act. The amendment would require the authorised officer to notify a discloser of any other course of action that might be available to them under another law or power, such as under the Public Service Act 1999. The amendment would ensure that the authorised officer is required to provide information to a discloser about how else they may take forward their disclosure of wrongdoing, when the authorised officer has decided that there is no reasonable basis on which it could be considered an internal disclosure, and so it cannot be dealt with under the PID Act.