ASIC releases two Information Sheets regarding new whistleblowing laws

On 1 July 2019, ASIC released two new Information Sheets regarding the rights and protections afforded to whistleblowers of a company’s misconduct under the Corporations Act.[1] The Corporations Act now allows whistleblowers to maintain their confidentiality, prevent suffering and threatened detriment and allows them to seek compensation if they have suffered a loss, damage or injury for making the disclosure.[2] To ensure whistleblowers are aware of their rights and protections, ASIC has updated and issued two new Information Sheets – Information Sheet 238 – Whistleblower rights and protections (INFO 238) and Information Sheet 239 – How ASIC handles whistleblower reports (INFO 239) to assist them.

INFO 238 explains the legal definition of a whistleblower, how a whistleblower can access their legal rights and protections, what protections are available to whisteblowers and when such protections may not be available to them.

INFO 239 explains what types of whistleblower reports that ASIC may receive, ASIC’s role in relation to whistleblowers, how they deal with the information disclosed by whistleblowers, how they pursue alleged breaches of the whistleblower protections, how they communicate with whistleblowers and ASIC’s Office of the Whistleblower’s role.