Your-Call - we listen, we respect, we protect

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Section 42

“The Board Audit Committee must establish and maintain policies and procedures for employees of the regulated institution to submit, confidentially, information about accounting, internal control, compliance, audit, and other matters about which the employee has concerns. The Committee should also have a process for ensuring employees are aware of these policies and for dealing with matters raised by employees under these policies.”

Australian Research Council Linkage Project – 2005-2007

‘Whistling While They Work’: Enhancing the Theory and Practice of Internal Witness Management in Public Sector Organisations

Visit: http://www.griffith.edu.au/centre/slrc/whistleblowing/

Visit: http://www.standards.com.au

National Corporate Governance Standards:-

AS 8000: Good governance principles
AS 8001: Fraud and corruption control
AS 8002: Organizational codes of conduct
AS 8003: Corporate social responsibility
AS 8004: Whistleblower protection programs for entities

Establish, maintain and effectively manage a whistleblowing scheme with the help of AS 8004. This Standard explains how to establish, maintain, implement and effectively manage a whistleblowing mechanism that can apply to employees, executives, directors, outside agents and sub-contractors.

HB 400″”2004: Introduction to Corporate Governance

HB 401″”2004: Applications of Corporate Governance

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Provides an overview of the last 15 years of developments in respect of whistleblower legislation and covers changes to Trade Practices Act 1974 & Part 9.4AAA of the Corporations Act providing increased protection to whistleblowers

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This concern is not limited to Canberra. On 21 June 2005 it was reported in the Age that the Victorian government had introduced regulations which prevented public servants from raising allegations to private investigation agencies which used to act as independent third parties. It was said in the article:

• Public servants wanting to expose alleged corruption in their departments have been shackled by changes to Victoria’s whistleblower rules.
• Government regulations ban private companies from receiving such complaints.
• The change means public servants have fewer options to raise allegations outside the bureaucracy.
• While they can make complaints to the Ombudsman, or to their own employers, they are prevented from turning to private investigation firms, which used to act as independent third parties.
• Critics fear the change will deter people from exposing misconduct in department ranks.

“Forcing people to go to their own departments with information on corruption or misconduct really does make it difficult to be a whistleblower in this state,” said the Opposition’s scrutiny of government spokesman, Richard Dalla-Riva.

“Why would the Bracks Labor Government want to control what is being said about its departments – what has it to hide?”

The regulations were introduced by Attorney-General Rob Hulls in 2002, but came to light this year when Glenn Birrell, a former Victorian detective-sergeant who now runs a private firm specialising in whistleblower services, complained to the Government after finding that his business, Your-Call Pty Ltd, specialist in disclosure management services, could no longer receive complaints from public servants under state laws.

Mr Birrell said the move undermined the Ombudsman’s own guidelines, and ought to be reexamined.

“If people genuinely want to raise concerns or blow the whistle in relation to corruption,they’re more likely to do it outside of the organisation,” he said.

“What concerns us is if the whistleblower now wants to come forward with a complaint, this regulation will void them of their opportunity to make a protected disclosure.”