The Royal Commission into the Management of Police Informants (RCMPI) recommended establishing a legislative scheme for the registration, use and management of human sources, and this recommendation has been implemented following the passage of the Human Source Management Act 2023.

It is important to be aware that, although the Act permits Victoria Police to register lawyers as human sources and use privileged information in specific circumstances (i.e. with the prior authorisation of the Supreme Court of Victoria), the Act does not change lawyers’ regulatory and professional obligations and duties.

I take this opportunity to remind all Victorian lawyers of your ethical, regulatory and professional obligations to maintain client confidentiality, other than in specific and confined circumstances. If you choose to inform on your clients to police, you are likely to do so in breach of these obligations, as well as your obligations to act in your clients' best interest, and to disclose or avoid any potential or actual conflict of interest.

Fiona McLeay
Board CEO and Commissioner