The Public Interest Disclosure Act 2018 (PID Act) establishes a scheme that encourages and facilitates the appropriate disclosure of public interest information to certain people or authorities.

It provides protections for some people who make an appropriate disclosure of public interest information in accordance with the PID Act and sets out processes for dealing with these disclosures.

Making a disclosure concerning OCPSE

An appropriate disclosure of public administration information concerning OCPSE or an OCPSE employee can be made to an OCPSE responsible officer or to another relevant authority as defined by the PID Act.

The OCPSE Public Interest Disclosure Procedure (PDF 481 KB) sets out the process:

  • for any person who wants to make an appropriate disclosure of public interest information concerning an OCPSE employee or OCPSE, and
  • for any employee within OCPSE in dealing with any appropriate disclosure.

You can contact an OCPSE responsible officer to make an appropriate disclosure of public interest information, including:

Email: ocpsepid@sa.gov.au

Phone: call one of the OCPSE responsible officers directly on 1800 317 333

Post:  *Mark the envelope private and confidential
Public Interest Disclosure, Office of the Commissioner for Public Sector Employment, GPO Box 2343, ADELAIDE SA 5001

Refer below to “Making a disclosure to other relevant authorities” if you wish to make a disclosure directly to the Commissioner in her capacity as a relevant authority.

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Before making a disclosure

A person making a disclosure should consider:

  • whether the information they intend to reveal might be considered an appropriate disclosure of public interest information, as defined by the PID Act
  • who is an appropriate authority for the purposes of disclosing the appropriate information
  • whether they have obligations under the Public Interest Disclosure Guidelines issued by the Independent Commissioner Against Corruption (ICAC) and the Directions and Guidelines issued by the Office for Public Integrity (OPI).

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Responsibilities

All public officers, which includes public sector employees, must comply with the PID Act.

A public officer must report to the OPI any matter that is reasonably suspected to involve corruption in public administration, unless the public officer knows that the conduct has already been reported to the OPI.

It is not mandatory to report misconduct or maladministration in public administration, but the Ombudsman expects that public officers will report to Ombudsman SA any matter that the public officer or public authority reasonably suspects involves maladministration or misconduct in public administration. The conduct can also be reported to the OPI.

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Making a disclosure to other relevant authorities

Public interest disclosures can be made to other relevant authorities, as detailed in the PID Act.

Public interest disclosures can be made directly to OPI.

The Commissioner for Public Sector Employment is also a relevant authority who can receive disclosures of public interest information where the information relates to any public sector agency or public sector employee (see section 5(b)(i) of the PID Act). Such disclosures may be sent to:

Email:  ocpsepid@sa.gov.au – email marked to the Attention of the Commissioner for Public Sector Employment

Post: *Mark the envelope private and confidential, to the attention of Commissioner for Public Sector Employment
Public Interest Disclosure, Office of the Commissioner for Public Sector Employment, GPO Box 2343, ADELAIDE SA 5001

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