Western Australian Current Acts Western Australian Current Acts (1) A public officer
or any other person may report to the Commission any matter which that person
suspects on reasonable grounds concerns or may concern serious misconduct that
—
(a) has
or may have occurred; or
(b) is
or may be occurring; or
(c) is
or may be about to occur; or
(d) is
likely to occur.
(2) A report may be
made to the Commission orally or in writing.
(3) This section has
effect despite —
(a) the
provisions of any other Act, whether enacted before or after this Act; and
(b) any
obligation the person has to maintain confidentiality about a matter to which
the allegation relates.
(4) A person who
exercises the power conferred by subsection (1) does not commit an offence by
reason of that exercise.
(5) A person who makes
a report under this section and who does so —
(a)
knowing that the content of the report is false or misleading in a material
respect;
(b)
maliciously, or recklessly,
is guilty of a crime.
Penalty: Imprisonment for 3 years and a fine of
$60 000.
Summary conviction penalty: $10 000.
(6) A charge cannot be
brought against a person under subsection (5) other than by the Director of
Public Prosecutions.
(7) A publication by
—
(a) a
complainant; or
(b) a
person who has relied upon information derived from a complainant; or
(c) a
person who has no reliable source of knowledge (which shall be presumed in the
absence of proof to the contrary),
that an allegation has
been made about a person to the Commission carries with it, an inference that
there were reasonable grounds for making the complaint.
[Section 25 inserted: No. 78 of 2003 s. 17;
amended: No. 35 of 2014 s. 31.]