Communications from the Commonwealth Ombudsman concerning the operation of section 44 of the Public Interest Disclosure Act 2013 (Cth) on or about 12 December 2024

Written by Claude Haiku 5.5 from the extracted text on 20 Oct 2026. It can miss or misread redacted and scanned pages. Check the source before relying on it.

This FOI release comprises a short email chain of six pages from late November 2024 between the Attorney-General's Department's public sector whistleblowing reform team and the Commonwealth Ombudsman's Public Interest Disclosure branch. The Ombudsman's officer sent a list of possible minor amendments to the Public Interest Disclosure Act 2013 (Cth) intended to make the Act easier to administer, and the AGD director responded that some items were already being addressed and others would be folded into existing issues or handled separately, proposing a further discussion at the protected level. The attached table of proposed amendments, with item descriptions, explanations and rationale, is almost entirely redacted, with exemptions under s 22(1) (irrelevant material) and s 47E(d) (certain operations of agencies) and personal details withheld under s 47F(1). The release does not disclose the specific amendments, any legal advice, or the position taken on section 44 of the Act.