How should the agency deal with frivolous or vexatious allegations?
It is often difficult to establish whether allegations are vexatious until at least some enquiries have been made. The NSW Ombudsman’s Protected Disclosure Guidelines note that disclosures motivated by malice or disgruntlement can be the only way some corrupt conduct or criminality is brought to light. For this reason, the Ombudsman advises, it is “best, at least initially, to ignore the motivation of the whistleblower and focus solely on the content of the disclosure and its accuracy”.
