Dr Rosalie Woodruff MP | Greens Justice spokesperson
The second reading of the Greens’ Public Interest Disclosures (Members of Parliament) Bill 2021 began in the Legislative Council today.
As the law currently stands, a whistleblower with information regarding Members of Parliament can only disclose it to the Speaker of the House of Assembly, or President of the Legislative Council.
This is the case even if the information is about the Speaker or the President themselves.
Our Bill extends arrangements under the Public Interest Disclosures Act - where a whistleblower can go to the Integrity Commission or Ombudsman - to include MPs as well.
We were pleased to have Chamber-wide support for our bill in the House of Assembly.
So far, debate in the Legislative Council has been supportive. We welcome MLCs’ positive comments, and thank everyone who made second reading contributions. We will watch their further deliberations with interest.
The Greens also extend our sincere thanks to the Hon. Mike Gaffney MLC for agreeing to take carriage of our bill through the Upper House. We are gratified a legislator of Mr Gaffney’s experience and calibre agreed to take carriage of this Bill.