ASIC calls on corporate Australia to improve whistleblower practices, protections

From July 2024 to June 2025, ASIC conducted a “first-of-its-kind” questionnaire on the whistleblower policies and practices adopted across Australian workplaces and identified a significant opportunity for companies to better support and protect those who speak up.

The corporate regulator said there were significant differences as the report benchmarked whistleblower policies and practices across 134 entities in 18 industries, and examined how these companies had adopted better practices outlined in previous ASIC publications.

According to ASIC, the questionnaire found significant variation in the maturity of whistleblower practices.

The review found that over one-third of participating entities did not provide a dedicated whistleblower web page for raising concerns, a quarter failed to provide regular staff training on their whistleblower program, and more than half had not sought employee feedback on their whistleblower program in the past year.

Alan Kirkland, ASIC commissioner, said: “Whistleblowers play a crucial role in identifying and exposing misconduct that can harm customers, shareholders, companies and the broader community”.

Kirkland added that ASIC had observed that larger companies and companies within the mining sector were most likely to have mature whistleblower practices and higher disclosure rates.

Additionally, some smaller companies had also demonstrated better practices, which suggested firm size did not impede strong whistleblower programs.

ASIC noted in addition to its questionnaire, it had undertaken a range of work to promote the adoption of effective whistleblower policies and programs across corporate Australia, such as releasing a regulatory guide in 2019, issuing a letter to CEOs in 2021 and publishing a good practices report in 2023.

From the most recent review, Kirkland said actions Australian companies could adopt to improve their whistleblower programs and practices had been highlighted.

“While whistleblower processes need to be tailored to the circumstances of each company, providing dedicated web pages for whistleblower reporting, enabling communication with anonymous disclosers, and fostering a stronger speak-up culture are all steps companies can take to support whistleblowers and encourage disclosures,” he said.

“Strong, appropriate and effective whistleblower practices go to the core of good corporate governance. These programs provide important information for directors to oversee their company’s operations and compliance with the law.”

From the questionnaire’s findings, ASIC pledged to continue monitoring whistleblower practices across Australia and engage with companies identified as having non-compliant or significantly less mature practices.

Kirkland said he wanted to remind companies that they were required to provide specific protections for whistleblowers and to manage whistleblower disclosures confidentially.

“Proper whistleblower policies should reflect these protections and outline how they will support and protect whistleblowers, taking into account the specific circumstances and characteristics of the company.”

“We encourage companies to benchmark themselves against the findings of the report and consider how they can improve their own whistleblower policies and practices.”