Western Australian Consolidated Acts

PUBLIC INTEREST DISCLOSURE ACT 2003 - SECT 24

24 .         Offence to make false or misleading disclosure

        (1)         A person who makes a statement to a proper authority purporting to be a disclosure of public interest information —

            (a)         knowing it to be false in a material particular or being reckless about whether it is false in a material particular; or

            (b)         knowing it to be misleading in a material particular or being reckless about whether it is misleading in a material particular,

                commits an offence.

        Penalty: $12 000 or imprisonment for one year.

        (1a)         For the purposes of subsection (1) a statement is made to a proper authority if, were the statement truly a disclosure of public interest information, it is disclosed to a proper authority for the purposes of section 5(3).

        (2)         A person who makes a statement in contravention of this section is not protected by this Act in respect of that statement, whether or not it is truly a disclosure of public interest information.

        [Section 24 amended by No. 48 of 2003 s. 62.]