Whistleblowers

If you are thinking of exposing a business or government’s wrong-doings you should seek our advice.

Whistle-blowing is commonly very stressful and difficult to navigate. Speaking up in a workplace with a rotten culture can result in retaliation. We can protect you to prevent adverse consequences resulting from blowing the whistle, and if necessary bring legal proceedings against your employer if you have been prejudiced by the conduct after you have reported a matter.

Updated Australian Whistle-blower laws came into effect on 1 July 2019 and require that all corporate, financial and credit sectors as well as ‘Regulated Entities’ comply with the Treasury Laws Amendment (Enhancing Whistle-blower Protections) Act 2019 by 1 January 2020.

Regulated Entities are Public companies and large private companies that have at least two of the following criteria –

• Have more than 50 employees within the company and the entities it controls
• Consolidated revenue of at least $25 million
• Consolidated gross assets of at least $12.5 million

To be compliant these organisations are required to have a Whistle-blower policy, and reporting options including the ability for anonymous reporting.

How we can assist:

Organisations:

• Drafting of a Whistle-blower policy
• Advice regarding your Whistle-blower Program implementation
• Advice regarding your response to Whistle-blower reports
• External & independent investigation of Reportable Conduct matters

Whistle-blowers:

• Advice regarding protections available to you under the Whistle-blower Laws

In March 2023 ASIC published an informative and helpful report “Good practices for handling whistleblower disclosures”.  The report can be read by clicking on the following link – https://download.asic.gov.au/media/wsjegua5/rep758-published-2-march-2023.pdf

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