Lotu-Iiga Peseta Sam: Protected Disclosures Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Lotu-Iiga Peseta Sam: Protected Disclosures Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:653;Page:2748] 
PESETA SAM LOTU-IIGA (National—Maungakiekie) 
: 
 I speak in support of the Protected Disclosures Amendment Bill. I will revert to the bill and not drift off on to unrelated and irrelevant matters such as those the Opposition raised. The bill is designed to build on the current purpose of the principal Act which is in place to promote public interest in different ways. There are two primary ways: the first is by facilitating the disclosure and investigation of serious wrongdoing and the second is by protecting employees who in accordance with the Act make such disclosures. 
Many in the Chamber have already referred to the report that was tabled in this Chamber in 2003 by Mary Scholtens. Quite why it has taken 6 years to get the issue through Parliament is questionable indeed. Miss Scholtens is a Queen’s Counsel. Her report concluded that the Act had not been used a great deal or used very well. Without a central coordinator the range of appropriate authorities to which employees could disclose such information was quite confusing. Miss Scholtens also referred to a strong perception amongst those who were consulted on the Act that the identity of a whistleblowing employee would not be protected. This bill gives the Office of the Ombudsmen that enhanced role. It also picks up a number of other recommendations designed to improve the Act’s protections and processes. 
As many in this Chamber have already said the bill was considered by the Government Administration Committee which was very well led by Mr Shane Ardern. The first change is the insertion under clause 6 of new section 6C(2). That provision states: “An organisation is not required to comply with a request made under subsection (1) if it is not a public sector organisation.” The amendment makes it clear that a private sector organisation is not obliged to comply with a request from the Ombudsman for information about that organisation’s internal procedures. The second change is the insertion under clause 8 of new section 15E(3). This amendment includes a reference to section 30 of the Ombudsmen Act and makes it an offence to refuse to provide to an Ombudsman the information specified in new section 15E. The Ombudsman will also be authorised to provide information and guidance to public or private sector employees on using the Act at any time not just on request. 
Public sector organisations are required to have internal procedures on how disclosures are to be made to them and how such disclosures will be investigated. This legislation requires that whistleblowers disclose in accordance with their employing organisation’s internal procedures but complying with internal procedures can be difficult if there are none. New section 6C inserted by clause 6 empowers the Ombudsman to request internal procedures and related information from an organisation. As a result organisations may be encouraged to have a good effective protected disclosures policy in place. Employees’ confidence should also increase if they know what the employing organisation’s internal procedures are. Under new section 15B inserted by clause 8 the Ombudsman also has new powers to review and guide public sector organisations’ investigations of whistle-blowing. The power to guide investigations is facilitated rather than directed and the power will be activated either on the organisation’s request or at the Ombudsman’s discretion. This should help to prevent disclosures of serious wrongdoing from circulating around various agencies without proper and appropriate resolution.