Public Interest Disclosure Scheme

The Public Interest Disclosure (PID) scheme encourages current or former ‘public officials‘ to report suspected ‘disclosable conduct‘ such as fraud or other misconduct in the Commonwealth public sector. The PID scheme is not intended to replace existing avenues for complaints and investigations, but supplements them.

For the purposes of the PID scheme, ‘public officials‘ include a Commonwealth public servant, member of the Defence Force, appointee of the Australian Federal Police, Parliamentary Service employee, director or staff member of a Commonwealth company, statutory office holder or other person who exercises powers under a Commonwealth law. Organisations or individuals who provide services under a Commonwealth contract and their officers or employees are also included. An ‘authorised officer‘, appointed by the agency head to handle disclosures, can also deem an individual to be a ‘public official‘ if they reasonably believe the individual has information about wrongdoing and proposes to make a disclosure.

Disclosures to the Inspector-General of Taxation may be made by:

• Writing to ‘Attention PID Authorised Officer, Inspector-General of Taxation and Taxation Ombudsman, GPO Box 551 Sydney 2001’ – marking envelopes or packaging as ‘Confidential’
• Emailing [email protected] with the subject line ‘Confidential – Attention PID Authorised Officer, Inspector-General of Taxation and Taxation Ombudsman’
• Telephoning the Inspector-General of Taxation and Taxation Ombudsman office on (02) 8239 2111 and requesting to be transferred to the PID Authorised Officer.

The following procedures are established to assist in managing any occurrences in the Inspector-General of Taxation and Taxation Ombudsman agency that fall within the definition of public interest disclosures.

The Public Interest Disclosure Act 2013 allows us to collect your personal information from you when performing our functions under that legislation. Disclosures can be made anonymously but this may limit the level of assistance we can provide. Further information regarding the PID scheme is available at Public Interest Disclosure Scheme.