Victoria Public Sector Whistleblower Protections: The Public Interest Disclosures Act 2012

Victoria's Public Interest Disclosures Act 2012 protects people who report improper conduct by a public officer or public body, backed by a reprisal offence carrying up to $50,184 in fines or 2 years' imprisonment, though the bodies that receive and assess disclosures were substantially restructured in 2024 and 2025.

The Act and Who It Covers

The Public Interest Disclosures Act 2012 (Vic), No. 85 of 2012, is still the current Act governing whistleblowing in the Victorian public sector. It has not been renamed or replaced. The version referenced here is Authorised Version No. 031, incorporating amendments as at 1 May 2026.

Section 4 defines the 'improper conduct' that can be the subject of a disclosure. It covers corrupt conduct; conduct of a public officer or public body, acting in that capacity, that amounts to a criminal offence, serious professional misconduct, dishonest performance of public functions, an intentional or reckless breach of public trust, an intentional or reckless misuse of information or material, a substantial mismanagement of public resources, a substantial risk to health or safety, or a substantial risk to the environment; conduct of any person that adversely affects, or is intended to adversely affect, the honest or effective performance of a public officer's or body's functions, including where it results in an improper personal benefit; and a conspiracy or attempt to engage in any of the above.

What You Can Disclose and to Whom

Part 3 of the Act, sections 21 to 31B, sets out the disclosure and notification pathway. A disclosure not made directly to one of the bodies that can receive, assess and determine whether it is a 'public interest complaint' must be notified to the appropriate entity within 28 days under section 21.

Three bodies can receive and assess a disclosure, and which one applies depends on the subject matter, not a single fixed gate:

• IBAC (section 26), Victoria's anti-corruption body.
• Integrity Oversight Victoria (section 31), a body created by 2024 legislative reform, described below.
• The Integrity and Oversight Committee (section 31B), a parliamentary committee.

This is a genuine three-way split. A discloser unsure which of the three is the right recipient for their particular disclosure can contact IBAC or Integrity Oversight Victoria directly for guidance on the correct channel.

Oversight Restructure: Integrity Oversight Victoria (2024-25)

Two amending Acts changed who performs the receiving and assessing role under this Act, and the change is real and dated, not a rename in form only. The Parliamentary Workplace Standards and Integrity Act 2024 (Vic), No. 27 of 2024, assented on 20 August 2024, with its PID-amending provisions, sections 148 to 158, commencing 31 December 2024. That Act repealed the Victorian Inspectorate's earlier public interest disclosure role and is the source of the new body, Integrity Oversight Victoria, now named throughout the current compiled Act. The Justice Legislation Amendment (Integrity, Defamation and Other Matters) Act 2024 (Vic), No. 31 of 2024, assented on 10 September 2024, carried the consequential amendment replacing 'the Victorian Inspectorate' with 'Integrity Oversight Victoria' throughout the Act's text, commencing 10 February 2025 under Special Gazette No. 648.

A source written before this 2024-25 restructure, or one that has not been updated since, will likely still describe the Victorian Inspectorate as the PID-receiving body. That description is now outdated. The current receiving and assessing bodies are IBAC, Integrity Oversight Victoria and the Integrity and Oversight Committee.

Protections and the Reprisal Offence

Section 43 defines 'detrimental action' taken in reprisal for a public interest disclosure. Section 45(1) makes it an offence: a person must not take detrimental action against another person in reprisal for a public interest disclosure, with a maximum penalty of 240 penalty units or 2 years' imprisonment, or both.

Victoria's penalty unit is indexed annually and currently stands at $209.10, for the financial year running from 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027. That puts the maximum fine for the reprisal offence at 240 times $209.10, or $50,184, on top of the possible 2-year prison term.

Confidentiality of Your Identity

Part 7 of the Act creates two further offences. Section 52 makes it an offence to disclose the content of an assessable disclosure. Section 53 makes it an offence to disclose the identity of the discloser. Both carry the same maximum: 120 penalty units, or 12 months' imprisonment, or both, for a natural person, and 600 penalty units for a body corporate. At the current $209.10 penalty unit, that is $25,092 for an individual and $125,460 for a body corporate.

A separate, lower confidentiality offence, section 81, carrying 60 penalty units over 6 months, survives from the old Whistleblowers Protection Act 2001 scheme, but it applies only to information from that earlier scheme. It is not the current confidentiality penalty for a disclosure made under this Act, and should not be quoted as such.

How a Disclosure Is Handled and Reviewed

Once a disclosure reaches IBAC, Integrity Oversight Victoria or the Integrity and Oversight Committee, that body assesses whether it meets the threshold of a public interest complaint before it is investigated. Because the three-way structure is relatively new, following the 2024-25 restructure, the exact policy line dividing which categories of disclosure go to which body has not been fully published in plain terms as of this page's research date; a person unsure which body applies to their situation is better served contacting IBAC or Integrity Oversight Victoria directly than guessing.

If You Work for the Commonwealth or in the Private Sector

This Act only reaches the Victorian public sector. A federal public servant reporting wrongdoing inside a Commonwealth department or agency is covered instead by the Commonwealth Public Interest Disclosure Act, explained on our Commonwealth public interest disclosure page, which has its own disclosure process, oversight bodies and reprisal offence. A private sector employee is covered by an entirely different regime under the Corporations Act, not by this Act at all. For the full picture of how the private, Commonwealth and state whistleblower regimes fit together, see our overview of whistleblower protection in Australia, or return to the Australia employment law hub for other workplace topics.