South Australian Consolidated Acts South Australian Consolidated Acts5—Immunity for appropriate disclosures of public interest information
(1) A person who makes
an appropriate disclosure of public interest information incurs no civil or
criminal liability by doing so.
(2) A person makes an
appropriate disclosure of public interest information for the purposes of this
Act if, and only if—
(a) the
person—
(i)
believes on reasonable grounds that the information is
true; or
(ii)
is not in a position to form a belief on reasonable
grounds about the truth of the information but believes on reasonable grounds
that the information may be true and is of sufficient significance to justify
its disclosure so that its truth may be investigated; and
(b) the
disclosure is made to a person to whom it is, in the circumstances of the
case, reasonable and appropriate to make the disclosure.
(3) A disclosure is
taken to have been made to a person to whom it is, in the circumstances of the
case, reasonable and appropriate to make the disclosure if it is made to an
appropriate authority (but this is not intended to suggest that an appropriate
authority is the only person to whom a disclosure of public
interest information may be reasonably and appropriately made).
(4) For the purposes
of subsection (3), a disclosure of public interest information is made to
an appropriate authority if it is made to a Minister of the Crown or—
(a)
where the information relates to an illegal activity—to a member of the
police force;
(b)
where the information relates to a member of the police force—to the
Police Complaints Authority;
(c)
where the information relates to the irregular or unauthorised use of public
money—to the Auditor-General;
(d)
where the information relates to a public employee—to the Commissioner
for Public Employment;
(e)
where the information relates to a member of the judiciary—to the Chief
Justice;
(f)
where the information relates to a member of Parliament—to the Presiding
Officer of the House of Parliament to which the member belongs;
(g)
where the information relates to a public officer (other than a member of the
police force or a member of the judiciary)—to the Ombudsman;
(h)
where the information relates to a matter falling within the sphere of
responsibility of an instrumentality, agency, department or administrative
unit of government—to a responsible officer of that instrumentality,
agency, department or administrative unit;
(i)
where the information relates to a matter falling within
the sphere of responsibility of a local Government body—to a responsible
officer of that body;
(j)
where the information relates to a person or a matter of a prescribed
class—to an authority declared by the regulations to be an appropriate
authority in relation to such information.
(5) If a disclosure of
information relating to fraud or corruption is made, the person to whom the
disclosure is made must pass the information on as soon as practicable
to—
(a) in
the case of information implicating a member of the police force in fraud or
corruption—the Police Complaints Authority;
(b) in
any other case—the Anti-Corruption Branch of the police force.