The way police manage informants in Victoria is to be reformed under a new Bill to establish clear independent oversight and the protection of informants.
Introducing the Human Source Management Bill 2023, Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes said it would help deliver 25 of the recommendations in the Royal Commission into the Management of Police Informants.
“The Bill sets out the process for the registration, use and management of Victoria Police’s human sources and establishes an external oversight model to ensure that police informants are used in an ethical and justifiable manner,” Ms Symes said.
“The Commission emphasised that the use of police informants plays an important role in policing and community safety and should continue, but that considerable risks exist due to the covert nature of human sources,” she said.
“This includes the Commission’s recommendation to allow for exceptional and compelling circumstances where it is appropriate to register a lawyer as a police informant, such as a need to respond to a significant threat to community safety.”
Ms Symes said the framework established by the Bill would ensure Victoria Police’s use of human sources was appropriate and justified, and that stringent protections were put in place to manage risks.
She said police would have to apply to a senior officer to register a person as a human source, with applications to register higher risk sources requiring approval by an officer at the rank of Assistant Commissioner or higher.
“The Bill ensures significant protections are put in place where the risks are greatest – where a person has access to privileged information, is under the age of 18 or has a serious physical or mental health condition,” the Minister said.
“As recommended by the Commission, the Bill establishes an external oversight model with tiered levels of oversight by the Public Interest Monitor and the Independent Broad-based Anti-Corruption Commission.”
Ms Symes said the proposed legislation would also make it an offence to disclose information that would reveal a person is or was a human source (unless the disclosure was for a permitted purpose) with a maximum penalty of two years’ imprisonment.
