The Treasury Laws Amendment (Enhancing Whistleblower Protections) Bill 2018, approved by Parliament late on 19 February 2019, improves the protections available for whistleblowers who report company misconduct.
The reforms broaden the whistleblower definition to include both current and former employees, officers, and contractors, as well as their spouses and dependants, and anonymous disclosures.
The reforms will also extend the protections to whistleblower reports that allege misconduct or an improper state of affairs or circumstances about any matter covered by financial sector law, as well as all Commonwealth offences punishable by imprisonment of 12 months or more.
In addition to the existing criminal offences, civil penalty provisions will be given for causing detriment to (or victimising) a whistleblower and for breaches of confidentiality.
The new reforms provide protections for disclosures to journalists and parliamentarians in certain circumstances and provide whistleblowers with easier access to compensation and other remedies if they suffer loss.
Under the new laws, all public companies, large proprietary companies, and corporate trustees of registrable superannuation entities are required to have a whistleblower policy.
“These reforms will help ASIC to perform our important regulatory role by encouraging people who have observed misconduct to come forward,” ASIC executive director Warren Day said.
“They complement the measures we have put in place since 2014 to improve our processes for assessing whistleblower reports and communicating with whistleblowers during our inquiries.”
ASIC’s office of the whistleblower will oversee the implementation of the reforms when they commence from 1 July 2019.
So you whistleblow to ASIC, they take five months accepting a mountain of your evidence, report no-misconduct on an official ASIC letterhead using a fake ABN for the entity involved, re-open the case due to this ‘administrative error’ and shut it down again. all around the same time as you report to local Police that white government plated cars are cruising outside your house with the drivers using laptops for which the Police are ‘not allowed to explain’. Then your neighbours report a car to crime stoppers which has been sitting outside your house (hidden by trees) for over a month and when you approach this car blocking your driveway you get threatened. Umm……is it really going to be in the whistleblowers best interests to report the crimes?
As someone who has whistle-blown before ASIC is completely useless no matter how many nice rules they add in. They came 5 years late and barely identified any of the spoon-fed misdeeds (handed EU, asked company to send staff to training… no fine). Too busy trying to get handouts from the banks I think…
If you were reporting a non-bank aligned business, they would have moved with the speed of a Cheetah and showered you with gifts. May have even had a ticker tape parade for you.
Geezuz matey they are openin up an hornet’s nest with this one. Askin us boys to dob in our mates for moola. Well, me trailers are gone, I got no clients and its Friday arvo and me and Don and John and the Synchron boys (and a few of their good lookin sheilas) are on the turps at the rubbedy dub and a man’s gotta make a living so I’ll go first and blow me self to tell ya about 250 NAB advisers faked client signatures and ASICs dun frigging nothin and them bank tellers are still floggin shonky super over the counter and ASICs dun friggin nothin and them CBA boys is still charging fees for no friggin service (hard to change systems!) and ASICs dun friggin nothin. There ya go. Plenty more where that came from. When does I get me check?
geez John and Don, can you boys get off the turps!?? I know it’s Friday and all, but surely a bit early to be smashing a few tinnies. I guess with your same day commission runs, everyday is a day to celebrate with a couple of VBs….until the day commissions dry up completely.
Better stay on top of this whistleblowing- it will be your first attempt at FFS- that stands for Fee for Service not For F#cks Sake.
what about Terry, he was way ahead of his times. he just called commissions, fees. and just refused to say commissions. does that count?
does this apply to Terry, he was a whistle blower
so who do ASIC employees go to when they want to Whistleblow on the regulator for misuse of their power?
That would be the Commonwealth Ombudsman via the Public Interest Disclosure Act 2013 (PID Act).