What is a public interest disclosure

A public interest disclosure is when someone reports certain kinds of wrongdoing in a government agency.

Under Queensland's Public Interest Disclosure Act 2010, anyone can make a disclosure about:

• a substantial and specific danger to the health or safety of a person with a disability
• a substantial and specific danger to the environment
• reprisal (retaliation) against a person who has already made a public interest disclosure.

If you work for us or another public sector agency, there are other things you can make a public interest disclosure about, including:

• corrupt conduct as defined in Queensland’s Crime and Corruption Act 2001.
• mismanagement that negatively affects a person’s interests in a substantial and specific way
• a substantial misuse of public resources
• a substantial and specific danger to public health or safety.

How to make a public interest disclosure

Anyone can make a public interest disclosure. This includes our staff and members of the public.

You can make a public interest disclosure by writing to us or telling us in person. You can stay anonymous, but we won’t be able to contact you or ask for more information.

You can make a public interest disclosure to our human resource team by:

• email: mhhs-hr-services @health.qld.gov.au
• phone: 07 4885 6800 (choose option 2)

You can also make a disclosure by post:

Mackay Hospital and Health Service
Executive Director People and Culture
PO Box 5580
Mackay MC Qld 4741

If you work for Mackay Hospital and Health Service, you can tell your supervisor or line manager.

All staff have an ethical responsibility to tell us about wrongdoing under the Public Sector Ethics Act 1994 (Qld).

Telling another authority

You can also make a public interest disclosure or report corrupt conduct to:

• the Crime and Corruption Commission
• the Queensland Ombudsman
• a member of the Queensland Parliament (MP).

Our commitment

We take all reports seriously and encourage you to come forward if you know about any wrongdoing.

Under the law, we must:

• make sure public officers in our hospitals and health services are doing the right thing
• look into reports of wrongdoing and deal with them in a way that’s proper and fair
• protect people who tell us about wrongdoing from harm.

We must also meet public interest disclosure standards set by the Queensland Ombudsman.