Public Interest Disclosure Amendment (Review) Bill 2022

The majority voted against an amendment introduced by NSW Senator David Shoebridge (Greens), which means it failed.

What does this amendment do?

Senator Shoebridge explained that:

What these amendments seek to do is to say that, if those actions of a whistleblower were in good faith, were in the public interest and were seeking to comply with the PID Act, even if there is a legal technicality, the court has discretion to extend the defences of the PID Act to protect the whistleblower.

Amendment text

(1) Schedule 1, page 30 (after line 20), after item 50, insert:

50A Paragraph 26(1)(c)

Repeal the paragraph, substitute:

(c) either:

(i) in the case of an item other than items 2 and 3—all the further requirements set out in column 3 of the item are met; or

(ii) in the case of items 2 and 3—all the further requirements set out in column 3 of the item are met or the disclosure is otherwise reasonable and in the public interest, having regard to all of the circumstances.