Western Australia’s Public Sector Commission (PSC) and Corruption and Crime Commission (CCC) have reported after their first month of operating under revised arrangements.

New provisions in the Corruption, Crime and Misconduct Act 2003 mean allegations of minor misconduct are now notified to the PSC, while allegations of serious misconduct go to the CCC.

The first month of the new arrangements saw the PSC receive 36 notifications and the CCC 126.

The PSC’s update report says it took no action on five of the references because the cases were out of its jurisdiction or deemed too minor to proceed with.

Twenty-three of the cases were referred to the relevant public authority for action, while eight were deemed to be serious misconduct and referred to the CCC.

Of the 126 notifications received by the CCC, 97 had been assessed from July 1 to August 13.

Of these, 56 related to misconduct within WA Police, 33 for suspected serious misconduct received from the public sector or the community, eight were deemed to be minor misconduct and passed to the PSC, while 29 still await assessment.

The CCC published some examples of complaints made and the ways they were dealt with.

Case study 1 – the CCC received a complaint that a public officer slapped a person in their care on their leg. There was no physical injury. Although it is an assault, it did not involve actual bodily harm. With a possible imprisonment sentence of common assault being 18 months, the allegations falls short of serious misconduct as defined in the CCM Act (s.4(c)). This is considered minor misconduct and was referred to the PSC.

Case study 2 - the PSC received a notification that an employee had used offensive language to a client. The employee acknowledged their behaviour and later apologised. A disciplinary process had been commenced, which substantiated the allegation against the employee. The penalty included a formal written reprimand. This was deemed ‘not minor misconduct’.

Case study 3 - the PSC received a notification that an officer was suspected of taking money from petty cash and then replacing the amount taken in stages. This employee had previously been issued with a formal reprimand for other money discrepancies following a disciplinary process. This was the third report of this type of behaviour. The PSC noted that the matter could be considered stealing under the Criminal Code WA. The penalty for a public servant stealing property of the State, or property they have come into possession of through their employment is 10 years’ imprisonment. The allegation therefore met the definition of serious misconduct and was referred to the CCC.

Case study 5 - the PSC received a report from a member of the public that a person believed that there was a health risk in a property that the person was renting. The property was inspected by a public authority and was assessed as being safe. The person disagreed with this assessment. This was deemed to be ‘out of jurisdiction’.