Public Interest Disclosure (Whistleblowing)  

 Current or former public officials (disclosers) who suspect wrongdoing within the Commonwealth public sector can raise their concerns under the Public Interest Disclosure Act 2013 (PID Act). Allegations made under the PID Act are public interest disclosures (PIDs). 

All Australian Government agencies, Commonwealth companies and public authorities have responsibilities under the PID Act to: 

  • investigate suspected wrongdoing, and 
  • take appropriate action.  

To encourage officials to speak up where needed, the PID Act provides strong protections against reprisals. To attract those protections, disclosers need to be acting on a reasonable belief that they are making a valid PID and they need to closely follow the procedures for making PIDs.

Who can make a PID? 

A current or former public official can make a disclosure. This includes: 

  • public servants (ongoing, non-ongoing and casual) 
  • parliamentary service employees 
  • service providers under a Commonwealth contract 
  • statutory office holders 
  • staff of Commonwealth companies 
  • temporary employees engaged through a recruitment agency. 
How to make a PID 

The preferred means of making a disclosure about conduct involving the authority is via the Climate Change Authority’s (the authority’s) anonymous reporting tool, Whispli(Opens in a new tab/window).  
Public interest disclosures can also be made orally or in writing:

For a list of Authorised Officers, please call the authority’s general enquiry line on 1800 475 869 or reach out via email at privacy@climatechangeauthority.gov.au 

PIDs that are not made directly to Authorised Officers will be forwarded to an Authorised Officer for assessment.

If you are concerned about making your disclosure to the authority, you can contact the Commonwealth Ombudsman(Opens in a new tab/window) to discuss options.

Information to include 

You should provide as much detail as possible in your disclosure to assist with the assessment of the matter, including: 

  • the nature of the wrongdoing 
  • who you think committed the wrongdoing 
  • whether others are aware of the wrongdoing  
  • whether others have allowed it to continue 
  • when and where the wrongdoing occurred 
  • relevant events surrounding the matter 
  • how you came to know about it 
  • if you are concerned about possible reprisal action as a result of making your disclosure, and 
  • a way to get in touch with you, in case anything requires clarification. 

 If you have any supporting information, such as correspondence, documents, notes, or diary accounts of the events, these should be provided along with your disclosure. 

Anonymous disclosure 

PIDs can be made anonymously. However, identifying yourself allows the authority to provide you with the protection, support, and updates that you are entitled to.  Providing your details also gives the authority a way to clarify details or obtain further information during any investigation.  

Investigators may decide it is impractical to proceed with an investigation if they do not receive your name and contact details or sufficient information. 

In some cases, the authority has mandatory reporting obligations, such as under the National Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2022 (NACC Act) which may affect the anonymity of disclosers, as described below. 

PID and the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) 

The NACC Act and the PID Act are each core parts of the Commonwealth integrity framework. 

Authorised and Principal Officers with responsibilities under the PID Act also have obligations under the NACC Act.  They must refer disclosures that may meet the threshold of serious or systemic corrupt conduct to the NACC so the NACC Commissioner can decide whether to investigate. These obligations are called mandatory referral obligations.  

For further information on how the PID and the NACC intersect is available at the NACC website(Opens in a new tab/window).

PID and NACC - what this means for the authority 

If a PID officer receives an internal disclosure under the PID Act that raises a corruption issue under the NACC Act, they must tell the NACC about it if all of the following apply: 

  • they received the internal disclosure while performing their functions under the PID Act 
  • the internal disclosure raises a corruption issue under the NACC Act 
  • the corruption issue concerns the conduct of a person who is, or was, a staff member of the agency while that person is, or was, a staff member of the agency, and 
  • the PID officer suspects the issue could involve serious or systemic corrupt conduct.  

The PID officer must refer the corruption issue to the NACC as soon as reasonably practicable after becoming aware of it. If the PID officer refers a corruption issue to the NACC, they must notify the person who made the internal disclosure as soon as practicable. 

Further information 

For more information, contact the authority via email at privacy@climatechangeauthority.gov.au or via phone 1800 475 869.

For further information, consult the Commonwealth Ombudsman(Opens in a new tab/window) website. 

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