The Institute has lodged a submission with Philip Moss and the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet regarding the Public Interest Disclosure Act 2013 (Cth).

The Act was due for statutory review, having been in operation for two years, and Mr Moss is to gather “information and views on whether the Act is operating as intended and whether it could be improved”.

The Institute’s submission focused on comparing the Commonwealth legislation with NSW legislation, and recommended an amendment to the Commonwealth legislation to restrict the circumstances in which a person may be prosecuted for taking prohibited reprisals against a whistleblower.

The Institute argued that the current Commonwealth legislation is too broad, encompassing a range of possible fact scenarios beyond those reprisals that legitimately ought to be deterred.

For full details, read our submission.

Further details about the statutory review can be found on the DPMC website. The deadline for submissions has now closed.