Queensland Public Sector Whistleblower Protection (Public Interest Disclosure Act 2010)

Queensland's Public Interest Disclosure Act 2010 protects public officers, and for narrower categories any person, who report corrupt conduct, maladministration, misuse of public resources, or danger to health, safety or the environment. Taking a reprisal against a discloser is a criminal offence carrying a maximum penalty of $28,840.90 or two years imprisonment.

The Act and Who It Covers

The Public Interest Disclosure Act 2010 (Qld) is the direct successor to the repealed Whistleblowers Protection Act 1994 and remains the current, operative Act governing whistleblower protection in Queensland's public sector. The in force version is reprinted current as at 30 August 2024, and its most recent substantive amendment is the Crime and Corruption and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2024, which amended section 13's treatment of a commission officer's conduct. This page covers Queensland's state public sector regime specifically. For how it fits alongside the Commonwealth public sector and private sector regimes, see the whistleblower protection in Australia overview.

Two categories of person can make a public interest disclosure. Under section 13, a public officer can disclose conduct that could be corrupt conduct or maladministration that adversely affects a person's interests in a substantial and specific way, substantial misuse of public resources (mere disagreement over spending amounts, purposes or priorities does not qualify), or a substantial and specific danger to public health, safety or the environment. Under section 12, any person, public officer or not, can disclose a narrower set of matters: a substantial and specific danger to the health or safety of a person with a disability, an offence connected with a substantial and specific danger to the environment, or conduct that could be a reprisal against someone else. Both sections use the same belief standard: an honest belief on reasonable grounds, or, failing that, information that objectively tends to show the conduct regardless of the discloser's belief.

What You Can Disclose and to Whom

Sections 14 to 16 set out who is a proper authority to receive a disclosure: a Member of the Legislative Assembly, except where the disclosure concerns a judicial officer (section 14); a public sector entity with a particular connection to the matter (section 15); and, for disclosures about certain judicial matters, the chief judicial officer as the only proper authority (section 16). The Act also sets out several special pathways: a disclosure concerning a government owned corporation or rail government entity (section 19), a disclosure to a journalist permitted only in defined circumstances (section 20), conduct of a person whose identity is unknown (section 21), an involuntary disclosure (section 22), and a disclosure made in a court or tribunal proceeding (section 23).

Section 58 names the Office of the Ombudsman as the Act's oversight agency. Its main functions under section 59 include monitoring how public sector entities manage disclosures, including compliance monitoring, statistics and trend monitoring; reviewing how entities have dealt with disclosures generally or with particular disclosures; and an educational and advisory role promoting the Act's objects. Section 60 lets the oversight agency set standards for how entities handle disclosures, and sections 61 and 62 require annual reporting and a periodic review of the Act itself, the mechanism that produced both the 2017 and 2023 reviews.

Protections and the Reprisal Offence

Section 40 defines a reprisal as causing, attempting to cause, or conspiring to cause detriment to another person because that person made or intends to make a public interest disclosure, or is, was, or intends to be involved in a proceeding related to one. It is sufficient that the unlawful ground is a substantial ground for the detriment, even where other grounds also exist (section 40(5)). Section 41 makes taking a reprisal an indictable offence, with a maximum penalty of 167 penalty units or two years imprisonment. At the current $172.70 penalty unit value set by the Penalties and Sentences Regulation 2025 (current as at 1 July 2026, made under section 5A of the Penalties and Sentences Act 1992), that maximum fine computes to $28,840.90. This figure indexes roughly annually, so treat any dollar amount as tied to that as of date rather than fixed.

A reprisal is also a tort under section 42: a discloser can bring a court action for damages, including exemplary damages, and if the matter proceeds to trial in the Supreme or District Court it is decided by a judge alone. The Workers' Compensation and Rehabilitation Act 2003 does not apply to these proceedings. Section 43 makes a public sector entity and the employee who took the reprisal jointly and severally liable, subject to a defence that the entity took reasonable steps to prevent it. As an alternative, section 44 allows a complaint under the Anti-Discrimination Act 1991, but once a discloser chooses that path or the section 42 court action, the other is no longer available. Reasonable management action, such as performance appraisal, counselling, suspension, discipline, transfer or redundancy, is not itself prevented under section 45, provided the disclosure is not a reason for taking it. Sections 46 to 54 add administrative protections, including a right of appeal or review, a relocation right for a public service employee, and a right to apply to the industrial commission or the Supreme Court for an injunction. Separately, section 66 makes it an offence to knowingly make a false or misleading statement purporting to be a disclosure, carrying the same maximum penalty as section 41.

Confidentiality of Your Identity

Section 65 prohibits a person who gains confidential information through involvement in administering the Act from recording it, or intentionally or recklessly disclosing it, subject to defined exceptions: for the Act's own purposes; to discharge a function under another Act, including an investigation; for a court or tribunal proceeding; with written consent; where consent cannot reasonably be obtained and the disclosure is low harm and reasonable; for safety or welfare reasons; or where authorised under a regulation or another Act. The maximum penalty is 84 penalty units, computed as $14,506.80 at the same 1 July 2026 rate discussed above. Confidential information is defined broadly in section 65(7) to include the discloser's identity, occupation and address, the disclosed information itself, and personal affairs information. Separately, under section 67, a public officer's contravention of provisions including sections 40, 41, 65 or 66 can itself amount to misconduct grounding dismissal or discipline under another Act.

How a Disclosure Is Handled and Reviewed

Chapter 3 of the Act sets out entity obligations once a disclosure is made. A public sector entity must have reasonable procedures for dealing with disclosures (section 28), keep a record of each one (section 29), and decide when no further action is required (section 30). It must refer disclosures it cannot deal with itself (sections 31 and 34), inform the discloser and any referring entity of the outcome (section 32), and give disclosure information to the oversight agency (section 33). A disclosure can concern past, present or future conduct, and making one disclosure does not prevent a person from making another (sections 24 and 25).

Currency Note: A Replacement Act Has Been Committed To, Not Enacted

In 2023, a review led by the Hon. Alan Wilson KC, with its final report released 8 August 2023, examined the Act under the periodic review mechanism in section 62. On 8 November 2024, Premier David Crisafulli's Charter Letter to the Attorney-General committed to the recommendations of that review. As at the current in force reprint, current as at 30 August 2024 and reflecting only the 2024 Crime and Corruption amendment, no replacement Act has commenced. This page describes the Act as currently in force. Given the live commitment to replace it, treat this page as due for a periodic currency check, and treat any characterization of the review's specific recommendations beyond the repeal and replace commitment as unconfirmed pending the review report itself.

If You Work for the Commonwealth or a Private Employer

This page covers only Queensland public sector employees, officers and contractors under the state Act. A person employed by a Commonwealth agency is covered by a different regime; see the Commonwealth Public Interest Disclosure Act 2013 protections page. A private sector employee is covered by yet another regime, the Corporations Act's whistleblower protections, rather than the PID Act. For the full three way split between private sector, Commonwealth public sector and state public sector regimes, and for other Queensland and Australia wide employment law topics, see the Australia employment law hub.