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NSW Independent Casino Commission

Public Interest Disclosure Policy and Procedure

When a public official reports possible serious wrongdoing in the public sector it is called a Public Interest Disclosure (PID), also known as ‘whistleblowing’.

Scope

The NSW Independent Casino Commission (NICC) is a standalone public service agency with obligations that are independent of any other agency or department. The NICC Chief Commissioner is the head of the agency for the purposes of the Public Interest Disclosures Act 2022 (PID Act).

This policy encourages NICC and ONICC members to make disclosures confidently and confidentially, if they suspect or witness serious wrongdoing in their own or any other public service agency. The policy applies to all NICC commissioners and Office of the NICC (ONICC) staff, contractors, and temporary workers.

This policy also applies to PIDs received from public officials who do not work for the NICC.

People who are not public officials can make a complaint to or about the NICC using the form on Report a potential breach or by emailing office@nicc.nsw.gov.au.

 

Principles

People who report wrongdoing are giving agencies an opportunity to investigate a possible problem and take steps to deal with it.

PIDs are protected under the PID Act (the NSW Ombudsman is the lead agency for this Act), but they must be made to certain people under certain circumstances.

There are three types of disclosure:

  1. Mandatory PIDs are reported as part of a public official’s legal obligation or role, such as when a principal officer reports corrupt conduct.
  2. Witness PIDS involve the disclosure of information during an investigation into serious wrongdoing.
  3. Voluntary PIDs occur when an individual comes forward on their own. Voluntary PIDs create obligations on agencies, which are outlined in this policy.

The NICC encourages its members to conduct themselves with the highest standards of integrity and accountability and feel confident that they will be supported to make a PID. 

NICC and ONICC members are also supported to confidentially approach their managers and designated disclosure officers if they are not sure what constitutes a PID. The NICC extends the same level of support and confidentiality to external public officials.

Serious wrongdoing

Serious wrongdoing can be one or more of the following:

  • Corrupt conduct — such as a public official accepting a bribe.
  • Serious maladministration — such as an agency systemically failing to comply with proper recruitment processes when hiring staff.
  • A government information contravention — such as destroying, concealing or altering records to prevent them from being released under a Government Information Public Access application.
  • A local government pecuniary interest contravention — such as a senior council staff member recommending a family member for a council contract and not declaring the relationship.
  • A privacy contravention — such as unlawfully accessing a person’s personal information on an agency’s database.
  • A serious and substantial waste of public money — such as an agency not following a competitive tendering process when contracting with entities to undertake government work.