Authorised officers are public officials working within Australian Government agencies who have been appointed to accept PIDs about their agency, and from the officials who belong to it. Under thePID Act, authorised officers have the responsibility for receiving, assessing and allocating PIDs.
Authorised officers must be appointed in writing by the head of the agency (the principal officer). There must be sufficient authorised officers who are accessible to current and former public officials to make a PID. Information about how to make contact with authorised officers should be easy to find on an agency's internal and external facing website.
Authorised officers need to:
- provide advice to public officials about the PID process, including how to make a PID, how the protections and immunities apply, and the reprisal risk assessment process
- assess all allegations of wrongdoing under the PID Act and decide if they constitute a PID
- obtain consent to disclose the public official's name and contact details for the purpose of handling the PID and adhere to the PID Act confidentiality and identity protection requirements
- advise the individual about the circumstance (if any), in which a disclosure must be referred
- identify and address any possible conflict of interests that may affect the handling of the PID
- take reasonable steps to protect public officials who belong to an agency against reprisals that have been, or may be, taken in relation to a PID that has been made, may have been made, are proposed to be made, or could be made to the officer
- allocate the PID to the principal officer or an appropriately delegated PID investigator
- notify the public official, the Commonwealth Ombudsman and the principal officer if the matter is a PID and of the allocation decision
- notify the National Anti-Corruption Commission if, during the course of performing their duties, they become aware of corrupt conduct that is serious or systemic
- make appropriate records of their decision making.
The following resources for Authorised Officers includes amendments to the PID Act:
- New responsibilities of Authorised Officers
- Information sheet - Role of Authorised Officers
- Guide - Agency guide to the Public Interest Disclosure Act 2013
- Notification form - Notification of allocation or reallocation (NEW)
- Notification form – Notification of decision not to allocate (NEW)
- Notification form – Notification of a stop action direction (NEW)
- FAQs
Please see our Tools and Resources page for further resources including Notification Forms, FAQs and our Agency Guide to the Public Interest Disclosure Act 2013.