Dr Rosalie Woodruff MP | Greens Justice spokesperson
This week in State Parliament the Greens will bring on our Bill to fix the Public Interest Disclosures Act 2002 for debate.
As it stands, a whistleblower with information regarding a Member of Parliament can only disclose this information to the Speaker for 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.
This is a different set of rules than for any other public official – where a whistleblower can go to the independent Integrity Commission or Ombudsman.
The current system can be exploited for political purposes – to protect a Member of the Government, or to pursue a Member of the Opposition or crossbench.
If a person has information about misconduct by the Speaker, what are they supposed to do under the current system? There is an obvious need for change.
While MPs might not see eye to eye on everything, we hope all parties will support such a simple – yet important – legislative reform.
It’s time to fix the law to ensure all public officers, including MPs, are accountable to the same set of rules.
You can read the Bill and associated Fact Sheet here - https://tasmps.greens.org.au/bill/public-interest-disclosures-members