Whistleblowers get the blunt end of the stick in Australia. They do great public good but suffer for protection. Rex Patrick reports on KPMG and the live Neometals case.
Germans love rules. It’s what makes them good at engineering and manufacturing.
I spent a lot of time in Germany in the first decade of this century and grew a healthily respect for their love of rules. When I asked “what is it about rules”, the response was aways the same; rules bring certainty and also make summer holidays in southern Europe (where the Germans get a rest from their own rules) so much more enjoyable.
Christian Reiche is a German who came to Australia in 2023 under a visa scheme for people who have an ‘internationally recognised record of exceptional and outstanding achievement in their field of expertise’; in his case a waste and recycling subject matter expert in battery materials and recycling.
Christian was employed as Head of Recycling with an Australian battery technology company, Neometals, which had entered a joint venture with SMS, a German company, to commercialise the Australian technology. Chirstian was also appointed as the managing director of the joint venture, Primobius.
Between February and April 2024, Christian ‘blew the whistle’ to his bosses at Neometals on a number of improper things he’d observed. Rules were being broken.
The reported conduct included intellectual property theft by a supplier (who was working with an SMS...
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