Whistleblower policies
(1) A public company must: (a) have a policy that sets out the matters referred to in subsection (5); and (b) make that policy available to officers and employees of the company. Note: Failure to comply with this subsection is an offence: see subsection 1311(1). (2) A proprietary company that has been a large proprietary company for any financial year (the first financial year) must, on each day in each later financial year that is at least 6 months after the last day of the first financial year: (a) have a policy that sets out the matters referred to in subsection (5); and (b) make that policy available to officers and employees of the company. Note: Failure to comply with this subsection is an offence: see subsection 1311(1). (3) Without limiting subsection (2), a proprietary company that is the trustee (within the meaning of the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993) of a registrable superannuation entity (within the meaning of that Act) must: (a) have a policy that sets out the matters referred to in subsection (5); and (b) make that policy available to officers and employees of the company. Note: Failure to comply with this subsection is an offence: see subsection 1311(1). (4) An offence based on subsection (1), (2) or (3) is an offence of strict liability. Note: For strict liability, see section 6.1 of the Criminal Code. (5) The matters that a policy must set out for the purposes of paragraph (1)(a), (2)(a) or (3)(a) are: (a) information about the protections available to whistleblowers, including protections under this Part; and (b) information about to whom disclosures that qualify for protection under this Part may be made, and how they may be made; and (c) information about how the company will support whistleblowers and protect them from detriment; and (d) information about how the company will investigate disclosures that qualify for protection under this Part; and (e) information about how the company will ensure fair treatment of employees of the company who are mentioned in disclosures that qualify for protection under this Part, or to whom such disclosures relate; and (f) information about how the policy is to be made available to officers and employees of the company; and (g) any matters prescribed by the regulations for the purposes of this paragraph.
Sourced from the Federal Register of Legislation at 17 May 2026. For the latest information on Australian Government law please go to https://www.legislation.gov.au. Verify the current text against the official source before relying on it.
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