Public Interest Disclosure

The Public Interest Disclosure Act 2013 (PID Act) is intended to remove barriers that prevent people who work in the public sector from reporting serious misconduct. It also ensures that disclosures are properly investigated and provides protection for those that report allegations.

All Commonwealth entities are required to comply with the PID Act.

What is a public interest disclosure?

A public interest disclosure is a report, made by a public official, of a suspected wrongdoing in the Commonwealth public sector. An internal disclosure is when a PID is disclosed within an entity, such as the Agency. The Agency’s Public Interest Disclosure Procedures applies to internal disclosures only.

Our Public Interest Disclosure Procedures (PDF, 498.27 KB) has been developed to inform our public officials about public interest disclosures and to detail our procedures for public officials making a public interest disclosure.

To be considered an internal disclosure, the following requirements my be met.

• Be made by a ‘public official’ or a person who has been a ‘public official’ of the Agency (including contracted service providers).
• Be made to an Authorised Officer of the Agency, or the Discloser’s supervisor or manager. In some limited circumstances, a disclosure can be made to an external party. The PID Act sets out strict requirements which must be met for such external disclosures to be afforded the protections contained in the PID Act.
• The information disclosed tends to show, or the Discloser believes on reasonable grounds the information tends to show, one or more instances of ‘disclosable conduct’ within the Agency, as defined by the PID Act.

How to report a PID

If you are making a PID, you can provide information by:

email: [email protected]
phone: 1300 901 001, 8am - 5pm (AEST/AEDT), Monday - Friday

Further information

The Commonwealth Ombudsman’s Office is responsible for oversight of the PID Scheme. It has published a series of guides and fact sheets.