Public Interest Disclosure Act 2012

This section applies if—

a person discloses disclosable conduct to the integrity commissioner; or

another disclosure officer gives the integrity commissioner a disclosure of disclosable conduct under section 17.

The integrity commissioner is a disclosure officer (see s 11).

The integrity commissioner must assess the disclosure and decide if the commissioner is satisfied on reasonable grounds that the disclosure is—

about disclosable conduct; and

disclosed in the public interest; and

not frivolous or vexatious.

If the integrity commissioner is satisfied under subsection (2), the disclosure of disclosable conduct—

is taken to be a public interest disclosure; and

the person who disclosed the disclosable conduct is taken to be the discloser for the public interest disclosure; and

the protections in part 7 are taken to apply to the discloser for the public interest disclosure from the day the conduct was disclosed.

A discloser for a public interest disclosure may forfeit protections (see s 37).