The new law, Treasury Laws Amendment (Enhancing Whistleblower Protections), was passed on 19 February 2019. It strengthens protective measures for whistleblowers and ensures applicable companies have a compliant and improved program.
Who’s affected?
All ‘regulated entities’ under the Corporations Act 2001.
- Public companies - covering a public company limited by shares or by guarantee or unlimited public company with a share capital or no liability companies.
- Large Propriety Companies - which satisfy at least two of these criteria - consolidated revenue for the financial year is $25 million or more; consolidated gross assets at the end of the financial year is $12.5 million or more; 50 or more employees
What do you need to do?
- Develop a Whistleblower policy by 1 July 2019
- Ensure processes in place to manage disclosures and protect Whistleblowers
- Review your Director and Officer (D&O) insurance
- Roll out Whistleblower program (policy & processes)
What if you don’t do anything?
Failure to comply can result in maximum penalties of $200,000 for individuals and $1million for companies.
Our role
We work with you to develop a holistic and tailored Whistleblower program which best suits your corporate, ethical, and governance needs. We do this in two stages:
1. Hotline - we implement an externally managed Whistleblower hotline to either establish or strengthen your Whistleblower policy and corporate governance framework.
This means your employees will have a confidential, easy-to-access and free hotline offering factual, emotional and practical support which lifts the pressure from those who detect wrongdoing.
This means you as an employer will have a transparent, efficient and cost-effective Whistleblower system enabling prompt reporting of fraud and corruption to avoid financial loss or reputational damage.
2. Roll-out the program - we review or develop Whistleblower policies and procedures and design/assist/execute a targeted communications campaign for awareness and education.
For more detail around our Whistleblower service, click here.
Lastly to discuss your obligations and help you meet the compliance deadline, contact Michael Mahabeer who leads our Ethics and Whistleblower practice on
+61 7 3839 1755 or your principal adviser.
Reminder, 1 July 2019 is the compliance deadline.