7299

2010-2011-2012

 

The Parliament of the

Commonwealth of Australia

 

THE SENATE

 

 

 

 

Public Service Amendment Bill 2012

 

 

(Amendments to be moved by Senator Milne, Leader of the Australian Greens, in committee of the whole)

( 1 )     Schedule 1 , item 52 , page 28 (before line 15) , before subsection 16 ( 2 ), insert:

          (1A)  If:

                     (a)  an APS employee reports a breach (or alleged breach) of the Code of Conduct; and

                     (b)  as a result of reporting the breach (or alleged breach), the APS employee is victimised, or discriminated against, by a person performing functions in or for an Agency;

the APS employee is entitled to be paid reasonable compensation by the Commonwealth.

Note:          Payments under this subsection must be made from money appropriated by the Parliament . Generally, a payment can be debited against an Agency’s annual appropriation, providing that it relates to some matter that has arisen in the course of its administration.

[protection for whistleblowers]

( 2 )     Schedule 1 , item 52 , page 28 (line 16) , omit “ establish ”, substitute “ regularly publish ”.

[publication of procedure]

( 3 )     Schedule 1 , item 52 , page 28 (line 17) , after “ employee ”, insert “ , or a former APS employee, ”.

[former APS employees]

( 4 )     Schedule 1 , item 52 , page 28 (lines 25 to 27) , omit subsection 16 ( 3 ), substitute:

             (3)  Procedures published under subsection (2) must:

                     (a)  comply with basic procedural requirements (if any) prescribed by the regulations; and

                     (b)  provide for an APS employee, or former APS employee, who makes a whistleblower report to be involved in, and receive regular updates about, any inquiry into the report.

[procedure for dealing with report]

( 5 )     Schedule 1 , item 52 , page 29 (line 1) , omit “ established ”, substitute “ published ”.

[publication of procedure]

( 6 )     Schedule 1 , item 52 , page 29 (line 6) , after “ employee ”, insert “ , or a former APS employee, ”.

[former APS employees]

( 7 )     Schedule 1 , item 52 , page 29 (after line 21) , after subsection 16 ( 6 ), insert:

Protection from criminal and civil proceedings

             (7)  No action or proceeding, whether criminal or civil, lies against an APS employee for or in relation to a whistleblower report made by the APS employee in accordance with this section (including regulations made for the purposes of this section).

[protection from criminal and civil proceedings]