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This is a Bill, not an Act. For current law, see the Acts databases.
Queensland
Whistleblowers Protection
Amendment Bill 2006
Queensland
Whistleblowers Protection Amendment
Bill 2006
Contents
Page
1 Short title . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2 Act amended . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3 Amendment of s 7 (What is the general nature of the Act's
scheme?) ....................................... 4
4 Amendment of s 8 (Public disclosures made by public officers
(pt 3)) .......................................... 4
5 Amendment of s 9 (Public interest disclosures made by
anybody) ...................................... 4
6 Amendment of s 10 (How must a public interest disclosure be
made (pt 4)?) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
7 Omission of s 17 (Public officer may disclose negligent or
improper management affecting public funds) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
8 Amendment of s 18 (Public officer may disclose danger to
public health or safety or environment) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
9 Amendment of s 19 (Anybody may disclose danger to person
with disability or to environment from particular contraventions) . 5
10 Insertion of new s 19A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
19A Anybody may disclose negligent or improper
management affecting public funds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
11 Amendment of s 25 (Disclosure must be made to an
appropriate entity) .................................. 6
12 Insertion of new s 26A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
26A Member of Legislative Assembly or media
representative is an appropriate entity in particular
circumstances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
13 Insertion of new s 27A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
27A Disclosure must be referred to ombudsman. . . . . . . . 8
14 Amendment of s 28 (Disclosure may be referred to an
appropriate entity) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
15 Insertion of new pt 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2
Whistleblowers Protection Amendment Bill 2006
Part 7 Transitional provision for Whistleblowers
Protection Amendment Act 2006
62 Transitional provision for Whistleblowers Protection
Amendment Act 2006. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Schedule Minor amendments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2006
A Bill
for
An Act to amend the Whistleblowers Protection Act 1994 to
implement the recommendations of the Queensland Public
Hospitals Commission of Inquiry
s1 4 s5
Whistleblowers Protection Amendment Bill 2006
The Parliament of Queensland enacts-- 1
Clause 1 Short title 2
This Act may be cited as the Whistleblowers Protection 3
Amendment Act 2006. 4
Clause 2 Act amended 5
This Act amends the Whistleblowers Protection Act 1994. 6
Clause 3 Amendment of s 7 (What is the general nature of the Act's 7
scheme?) 8
Section 7-- 9
insert-- 10
`(7) The Act provides for the ombudsman to oversight the 11
scheme.'. 12
Clause 4 Amendment of s 8 (Public disclosures made by public 13
officers (pt 3)) 14
Section 8(4)-- 15
omit. 16
Clause 5 Amendment of s 9 (Public interest disclosures made by 17
anybody) 18
(1) Section 9(1) and (2)-- 19
omit, insert-- 20
`(1) Under section 19, anybody may disclose a substantial and 21
specific danger to public health or safety or to the health or 22
safety of a person.'. 23
(2) Section 9(3)-- 24
renumber as section 9(2). 25
(3) Section 9-- 26
s6 5 s9
Whistleblowers Protection Amendment Bill 2006
insert-- 1
`(3) Under section 19A, anybody may disclose negligent or 2
improper management involving a substantial waste of public 3
funds.'. 4
Clause 6 Amendment of s 10 (How must a public interest 5
disclosure be made (pt 4)?) 6
Section 10(1), after `which'-- 7
insert-- 8
`, except in the particular circumstances mentioned in section 9
26A,1'. 10
Clause 7 Omission of s 17 (Public officer may disclose negligent 11
or improper management affecting public funds) 12
Section 17-- 13
omit. 14
Clause 8 Amendment of s 18 (Public officer may disclose danger 15
to public health or safety or environment) 16
(1) Section 18, heading, `public health or safety or'-- 17
omit. 18
(2) Section 18(1), `to public health or safety or'-- 19
omit. 20
Clause 9 Amendment of s 19 (Anybody may disclose danger to 21
person with disability or to environment from particular 22
contraventions) 23
(1) Section 19, heading, `person with disability'-- 24
omit, insert-- 25
`public health or person'. 26
1 Section 26A (Member of Legislative Assembly or media representative is an
appropriate entity in particular circumstances)
s 10 6 s 12
Whistleblowers Protection Amendment Bill 2006
(2) Section 19(1)(a)-- 1
omit, insert-- 2
`(a) a substantial and specific danger to public health or 3
safety or to the health or safety of a person; or'. 4
Clause 10 Insertion of new s 19A 5
After section 19-- 6
insert-- 7
`19A Anybody may disclose negligent or improper 8
management affecting public funds 9
`(1) Anybody may make a public interest disclosure about the 10
conduct of a public officer, a public sector entity or a public 11
sector contractor if-- 12
(a) the person has information about the conduct; and 13
(b) the conduct is negligent or improper management 14
directly or indirectly resulting, or likely to result, in a 15
substantial waste of public funds. 16
`(2) The disclosure can not be based on a mere disagreement over 17
policy that may properly be adopted about amounts, purposes 18
and priorities of expenditure.'. 19
Clause 11 Amendment of s 25 (Disclosure must be made to an 20
appropriate entity) 21
Section 25(1), `Section 26 specifies'-- 22
omit, insert-- 23
`Sections 26 and 26A specify'. 24
Clause 12 Insertion of new s 26A 25
After section 26-- 26
insert-- 27
s 12 7 s 12
Whistleblowers Protection Amendment Bill 2006
`26A Member of Legislative Assembly or media 1
representative is an appropriate entity in particular 2
circumstances 3
`(1) If-- 4
(a) under this Act a person makes a public interest 5
disclosure to a public sector entity (the first disclosure); 6
and 7
(b) within 30 days after the first disclosure the ombudsman 8
has not advised the person that the matter the subject of 9
the first disclosure has been resolved to the 10
ombudsman's satisfaction; 11
a member of the Legislative Assembly is an appropriate entity 12
to receive the public interest disclosure from the person. 13
`(2) If-- 14
(a) under subsection (1) a person makes a public interest 15
disclosure to a member of the Legislative Assembly (the 16
second disclosure); and 17
(b) within 30 days after the second disclosure the 18
ombudsman has not advised the person that the matter 19
the subject of the second disclosure has been resolved to 20
the ombudsman's satisfaction; 21
a representative of mass media is an appropriate entity to 22
receive the public interest disclosure from the person. 23
`(3) This section does not apply to a public interest disclosure 24
made under division 4, 5 or 6.2 25
26
Note--
27
Under this section a person who is not a public sector entity is an
28
appropriate entity to receive the public interest disclosure, however--
29
(a) the person will be unable to exercise the same powers of
30
investigation and remedy in relation to the disclosure that an
31
appropriate entity that is a public sector entity could exercise; and
32
(b) a provision of this Act that is expressed to apply to a public sector
33
entity will not apply to the person.'.
2 Division 4 (Limitation on disclosure process for courts, tribunals and judicial
officers), 5 (Limitation on disclosure process for GOCs) or 6 (Limitation on
disclosure process for corporatised corporations)
s 13 8 s 14
Whistleblowers Protection Amendment Bill 2006
Clause 13 Insertion of new s 27A 1
After section 27-- 2
insert-- 3
`27A Disclosure must be referred to ombudsman 4
`(1) If a public interest disclosure (other than a disclosure about 5
conduct that is official misconduct) is received by an 6
appropriate entity (other than under section 26A(2)), the 7
entity must refer the disclosure to the ombudsman. 8
`(2) The ombudsman must consider the disclosure and, after 9
making any enquiries the ombudsman considers appropriate, 10
must decide to-- 11
(a) investigate the disclosure; or 12
(b) refer the disclosure back to the appropriate entity with 13
the directions or advice the ombudsman considers 14
appropriate. 15
`(3) Without limiting subsection (2)(b), the directions or advice 16
may include-- 17
(a) directions or advice enabling the ombudsman to monitor 18
the appropriate entity's investigation of the disclosure; 19
and 20
(b) directions or advice about the exercise of power under 21
section 28. 22
`(4) The provisions of the Ombudsman Act 2001 relating to the 23
functions and powers of the ombudsman extend to the 24
ombudsman's functions and powers under this Act, despite 25
any reference in that Act to a function or power that is 26
expressed as a function or power under that Act.'. 27
Clause 14 Amendment of s 28 (Disclosure may be referred to an 28
appropriate entity) 29
Before section 28(1)-- 30
insert-- 31
`(1A) This section applies subject to section 27A and any direction 32
made under section 27A.'. 33
s 15 9 s 15
Whistleblowers Protection Amendment Bill 2006
Clause 15 Insertion of new pt 7 1
After section 61-- 2
insert-- 3
`Part 7 Transitional provision for 4
Whistleblowers Protection 5
Amendment Act 2006 6
`62 Transitional provision for Whistleblowers Protection 7
Amendment Act 2006 8
`A disclosure made before the commencement of this section 9
by anybody to an entity (other than an appropriate entity) 10
about a matter that was raised at the Commission of Inquiry 11
established by the Commissions of Inquiry Order (No. 1) 2005 12
or the Commissions of Inquiry Order (No. 2) 2005 is taken to 13
be a public interest disclosure for the purposes of part 5.3'. 14
3 Part 5 (Privilege, protection and compensation)
10
Whistleblowers Protection Amendment Bill 2006
Schedule Minor amendments 1
section 2 2
1 Section 27, examples of subsection (3)(d), `section 17'-- 3
omit, insert-- 4
`section 19A'. 5
2 Section 34(4), `section 16,17,18 or 19'-- 6
omit, insert-- 7
`section 16, 18, 19 or 19A'. 8
3 Section 37(3) and (5)(c), `section 17'-- 9
omit, insert-- 10
`section 19A'. 11
4 Section 37B(3) and (5)(c), `section 17'-- 12
omit, insert-- 13
`section 19A'. 14
5 Schedule 3, `section 17'-- 15
omit, insert-- 16
`section 19A'. 17
6 Schedule 3, `section 17(1)'-- 18
omit, insert-- 19
`section 19A(1)'. 20
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