The Australian Government has introduced the Treasury Laws Amendment (Whistleblowers) Bill 2017 ("Bill"), which creates broader protections for whistleblowers in the private sector (primarily corporate and financial organisations including banks, building societies, credit unions, insurance companies and superannuation companies).
The Bill seeks to amend the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) ("Corporations Act") as well as the Taxation Administration Act 1953 (Cth) ("Tax Act") to extend the scope of protection for whistleblowers in the private sector and clarify the offence of victimisation of whistleblowers.
The proposed changes will require public and large proprietary companies to create a whistleblower policy detailing the statutory protections that are available to employees who disclose dishonest or illegal conduct within the company.
Summary of the proposed changes
Whistleblower policy
Public and large proprietary companies must, by 1 January 2019 (or no later than six months after a proprietary company first becomes a large proprietary company) create and disseminate a policy that details the statutory protections afforded to whistleblowers as well as the measures in place to ensure the company's fair treatment of employees who are the subject of disclosures. Failure to adhere to this requirement will result in a strict penalty of 60 penalty units ($12,600).
What does the Bill require of employers?
If the Bill is passed, public and large proprietary companies in corporate and financial fields must create and implement a whistleblower policy by 1 January 2019 which contains, at minimum:
It is evident though that having a whistleblower policy is not enough. The aim of the policy must be to not only summarise the protections afforded at law, but also the company's systems and processes for dealing with protected disclosures. In other words, companies need to start considering now how they will deal with disclosures and the adequate protection whistleblowers.