The Public Interest Disclosure Act 2003 (PID Act) allows people to make disclosures about wrongdoing in public authorities, which includes the State public sector, local governments, government trading enterprises, public universities and some government boards and committees (public authorities), and protects them when they do.
The Public Sector Commissioner has a number of functions under the PID Act, which include:
- monitoring compliance with the PID Act and the PID officer’s code of conduct and integrity – section 19 and s. 20
- assisting public authorities and public officers to comply with the PID Act and the code of conduct and integrity – s. 19
- establish a code of conduct and integrity setting out the minimum standards of conduct and integrity with which all PID Officers must comply (s. 20)
- prepare and publish guidelines on internal procedures about the functions of a PID officer under the PID Act and ensuring all proper authorities have copies of the guidelines – s. 21
- reporting annually to the Parliament on the performance of these obligations and the compliance or non-compliance with the PID Act and the code of conduct and integrity – s. 22
- reporting at any time to the Parliament on any matter related to the exercise of these functions – s. 22.
The Commissioner can monitor compliance with the PID Act in many ways including:
- receiving and evaluating PID data from public authorities gathered through annual collection programs
- evaluating information the Commission receives through its assistance role.
You can find information about public interest disclosures in the Commissioner's annual State of the Western Australian Government Sector Workforce Report.
