Protected Disclosures Amendment Bill
Second Reading
NATHAN GUY (National—Ōtaki) : I wish to take a call on the second reading of the very important Protected Disclosures Amendment Bill. I acknowledge the wonderful work of the then members of the Government Administration Committee that was chaired by Shane Ardern: Darien Fenton, Brian Connell, the Hon Harry Duynhoven, Sandra Goudie, and the Hon Dover Samuels. The select committee heard four written submissions and one verbal submission.
This is very, very important legislation, and I will give the House some of the reasons why I believe it is extremely important. I acknowledge that this bill still allows for people out there to blow the whistle, and that is extremely important. They will continue to receive the protection of the Protected Disclosures Act 2000 on the grounds that they believe it is reasonable for information of serious wrongdoing to be provided. That is a very important part of this bill. It widens the definitions of who is a “public official” and who is considered an “employee” for the purposes of this Act. This extends access to the Act and to its protections.
Two further amendments were made to the bill through the work of that very important select committee. I will spend a little time, if I can, on those two recommendations, which have already been alluded to by some of the earlier speakers this afternoon. The first is the insertion of subsection (2) in section 6C, inserted by clause 6, which specifically excludes private sector organisations from being obliged to comply with a request from the Ombudsmen for information about an organisation’s internal procedures. The second amends section 15E(3), inserted by clause 8, to include a reference to section 30 of the Ombudsmen Act, which makes it an offence to refuse to provide the Ombudsmen with the information specified in that provision. This is a very important bill, which this Government is progressing. For that reason, the Government supports the second reading of the Protected Disclosures Amendment Bill.