Page 1296 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 3 April 2019
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We have done this by recently passing legislation to establish the ACT Integrity Commission, through reform of our freedom of information laws, and by introducing legislation to ban political donations from property developers. An independent review of the ACT’s public interest disclosure regime is an important next step in ensuring our integrity framework remains best practice. I am pleased to advise the Assembly that we have already begun taking the necessary steps to get that review underway.
The Public Interest Disclosure Act is an important component of the integrity framework. It provides protections for individuals making disclosures about maladministration and wrongdoing in the public sector. Back in June of 2012, as Deputy Chief Minister, I introduced the Public Interest Disclosure Bill into the Assembly and it passed later that year. At that time I observed that under the ACT’s public interest disclosure regime anyone who observed wrongdoing in the public sector would be able to make a disclosure about that conduct and that this reflected the proximity of the Canberra community to the services provided by government.
Then and now, this ability for anyone who observes wrongdoing in the public sector to disclose such conduct is an important part of ensuring open, transparent and accountable administration. The establishment of the ACT Integrity Commission involved extensive consultation with stakeholders and, of course, two select committees of inquiry in this place. On more than one occasion it was highlighted that a review of the ACT’s public interest disclosure regime would be appropriate in the context of the new Integrity Commission.
In February 2018, in response to recommendation 78 of the inquiry into an independent integrity commission, the government agreed to conduct a review of the ACT’s public interest disclosure regime. At the time we said the review would examine the relationships between existing integrity bodies in the territory, including the sharing of information and the referral of complaints, oversight and accountability mechanisms, and identifying gaps in the current framework to determine solutions.
Last year, in response to recommendation 54 of the inquiry into the establishment of an integrity commission for the ACT, the government agreed to conduct a review. We said the review would need to be conducted in the context of the integrity commission bill and, of course, the new Integrity Commission and that any legislative amendments would be subject to an assessment of legislative priorities.
There is of course a direct link between the ACT’s public interest disclosure regime and the ACT Integrity Commission, and it is important that we in this place understand how these two parts of our integrity framework interact. We need to ensure that they are both working effectively and efficiently together. Therefore, it is important that this review is conducted in the right way. We need to make sure that the independent reviewer considers relevant legislation and human rights compatibility, previous review reports, the select committee reports and, of course, relevant research in this field.
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