More than 3 years after the overhaul of Australia’s corporate whistleblower laws, ASIC has, for the first time, brought proceedings against a company and individuals alleging civil contraventions of the anti-victimisation provisions. If the case proceeds to trial, it will likely be a test of the scope of these protections. At the same time, ASIC has released timely guidance about better practices for handling whistleblower disclosures, following its review of selected whistleblower programs.
Key takeaways
ASIC is now clearly scrutinising compliance with the enhanced corporate whistleblower protections.
Whistleblower policies, procedures and programs should be reviewed in light of ASIC’s recent ‘better practice’ guidance.
The TerraCom whistleblower proceeding also demonstrates that particular attention should be paid to risks of alleged harm to whistleblowers. ASIC’s ‘better practice’ guidance encourages active steps to protect and support whistleblowers, and the development of frameworks to reduce the risk of harm for whistleblowers reporting misconduct.
The corporate whistleblower protections
In July 2019, Australia’s corporate whistleblower laws were strengthened. These reforms followed sustained criticism of the existing laws for being confusing, narrow in their scope and out of step with international standards.
The changes involved a comprehensive overhaul of the existing protections in Part 9.4AAA of the Corporations Act, and included the introduction of enhanced...
Field Marshal Lord Bramall, one of Britain’s greatest soldiers, was known affectionately to his grandchildren as “Papa”. Alex Bramall, his grandson, a fashion photographer, was particularly close ...