Australian Capital Territory Numbered Acts

PUBLIC INTEREST DISCLOSURE ACT 1994 (NO 108 OF 1994)

TABLE OF PROVISIONS

           Long Title

   PART I--PRELIMINARY SHORT TITLE

   1.      This Act may be cited as the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1994.  
   3.      In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears—“act” includes investigate; “conduct” includes act or omission; “disclosable conduct” means conduct which, by virtue of subsection 4 (1), is to be taken to be disclosable; “detriment” means—  
   4.      (1) For the purposes of this Act, conduct is to be taken to be disclosable if—  
   5.      If information that could amount to a public interest disclosure is disclosed in the course of the proceedings of a court or tribunal, the court or tribunal may refer the information to a proper authority.  
   6.      This Act does not limit the protection given by any other Act or law to a person who makes a public interest disclosure or prejudice any other remedy available to the person.  
   7.      An agent of the Territory who commits an offence against this Act is liable for a penalty for the offence.  
   8.      Nothing in this Act shall be taken to entitle a person to disclose information which would otherwise be the subject of legal professional privilege.  

   PART II--PROPER AUTHORITIES

   9.      Each government agency is a proper authority to receive—  
   12.     For the purposes of this Act, the Ombudsman may exercise any of the powers referred to in the Ombudsman Act 1989 as if a reference to an investigation under the Ombudsman Act 1989 were a reference to an investigation under this Act.  
   13.     The Ombudsman is a proper authority to receive a public interest disclosure from any person.  
   14.     If, in relation to a public interest disclosure that he or she has received, the Ombudsman considers—  

   PART III--PUBLIC INTEREST DISCLOSURES MAKING A PUBLIC INTEREST DISCLOSURE

   16.     Nothing in this Act requires a proper authority to investigate a public interest disclosure if the person making the disclosure does not identify himself or herself.  
   18.     Subject to section 21, if a public interest disclosure received by a proper authority is not related to—  
   19.     A proper authority shall investigate a public interest disclosure received by it if the disclosure relates to—  
   21.     (1) A proper authority shall not refer a public interest disclosure to another government agency, other than the Ombudsman, under section 18 or subsection 20 (1) if, in the authority's opinion—  
   24.     If more than 1 proper authority is required by this Act to act on a public interest disclosure, the proper authorities may enter into such arrangements with each other as are necessary and reasonable—  

   PART IV--UNLAWFUL REPRISALS

   26.     Where a proper authority receives a public interest disclosure that relates to an unlawful reprisal it shall provide the person who made the public interest disclosure with information about the protection and remedies available under this Act in relation to an unlawful reprisal.  
   27.     Where an officer of a government agency applies in writing to the government agency for relocation and the government agency considers—  
   28.     Section 27 does not authorise the relocation of an officer to another position in a government agency without the consent of the officer.  
   30.     An application to a court of competent jurisdiction for an injunction or order under section 31 may be made—  
   31.     (1) If, on receipt of an application under section 30, a court is satisfied that a person has engaged or is proposing to engage, in—  

   PART V--MISCELLANEOUS CONFIDENTIALITY

   34.     A person shall not knowingly or recklessly make a false or misleading statement, orally or in writing, to a proper authority with the intention that it be acted on as a public interest disclosure.  
   36.     A person's liability for his or her own conduct is not affected by the person's disclosure of that conduct in a public interest disclosure.  
   37.     Where a body corporate is convicted of an offence under this Act, the penalty that the court may impose is a fine not exceeding 5 times the maximum amount that, but for this section, the court could impose as a pecuniary penalty for the offence.  
   38.     The Executive may make regulations, not inconsistent with this Act, prescribing matters—  
   39.     Section 4 of the Ombudsman Act 1989 is amended—  
   40.     Part XII of the Public Sector Management Act 1994 is repealed.