Whistleblowers Protection

Administration of the 2001 Guidelines

The main purpose of the Act is to:

• encourage and facilitate disclosures of improper conduct by public officers and public bodies;
• protect persons making those disclosures and others from reprisals; and
• provide for the matters disclosed to be properly investigated and dealt with.

Accordingly, a disclosure can be made by a person who believes, on reasonable grounds, that a public officer or public body is either engaging in improper conduct or taking detrimental action. The term "improper conduct" is defined in the Act.

To whom should a disclosure be made?

Disclosures about councillors should be made to the Ombudsman. Disclosures about Council staff should be made to the Chief Executive Officer.

How must the Council respond?

After receiving a disclosure, the Council has up to 45 days to reach a conclusion as to whether the disclosure is a public interest disclosure. If it decides the issue is a public interest disclosure, it must then, within 14 days, notify the whistleblower and the Ombudsman who will make a final determination as to whether the matter is a public interest disclosure.

Detailed Procedures

Council's detailed procedures are available from the Manager Governance and are also available below

Guidelines
Annexure

Timeframe

The Act began operation effective from 1 January 2002.

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Further information

Governance
Richmond Town Hall,
333 Bridge Rd, 
Richmond 3121
Telephone 9205 5110
Email info@yarracity.vic.gov.au

Links

Within this site
Yarra City Council

External sites (Yarra City Council accepts no responsibility for the information or opinions contained within external sites)
Victoria Online

Information supplied by: Electronic communications & design officer - 9205 5214

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