Risk and compliance
WHISTLEBLOWING
Disclosure will now be able to be made to a wider range of persons including: –– designated eligible recipients (including officers, senior managers and various regulators); –– a legal practitioner, for the purposes of seeking legal advice; and –– in defined circumstances, to members of parliament of the Commonwealth or a State or Territory and/or to journalists. Under existing corporate whistleblower regime, there is a requirement that a whistleblower acts in “good faith”. In the Whistleblower Act, no such requirement exists and therefore the motives of a whistleblower cannot be taken into account in determining whether a disclosure qualifies for protection. Further, whistleblowers who make disclosures will be entitled to anonymity. Whistleblowers will have increased access to compensation where they have been victimised or where their identity is revealed. Such compensation will be payable by both individuals involved in the victimisation or identity disclosure, and bodies corporate.
ENHANCED WHISTLEBLOWER PROTECTIONS
The TreasuryLawsAmendment(Whistleblowers) Act 2019 (Cth) ( Whistleblower Act ) passed both houses of Parliament on 19 February 2019 and received Royal Assent on 12 March 2019. The new whistleblower regime entered into force on 1 July 2019. The Whistleblower Act creates a single whistleblower protection regime within the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) ( Corporations Act ) which covers the corporate, financial, and credit sectors. The existing whistleblower provisions across a range of different legislation have been consolidated, and offences under a number of different laws are deemed to be conduct which could be subject to disclosure under the new regime. The definition of eligible whistleblowers who will be protected has been significantly extended to include both current and former officers, employees and suppliers, associates of such persons, and relatives of such persons.
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