Whistleblower confidentiality

Maintaining confidentiality is crucial in ensuring reprisals are not made against a whistleblower. The University will take all reasonable steps to protect the identity of the whistleblower.

In order to gain and retain the protections of the Act in terms of confidentiality, a whistleblower must only disclose information concerning alleged improper conduct by the University or a staff or Council member to certain people. The people to whom a disclosure may be made are the Ombudsman, the University’s protected disclosure coordinator/officers, or an investigator appointed by the Ombudsman or University. A whistleblower who makes a disclosure to any other person within Monash or any other person or organisation external to Monash is not making a protected disclosure and may therefore be the subject of a defamation or other civil action.

The Act requires any person who receives information due to the handling or investigation of a protected disclosure, not to disclose that information except in certain limited circumstances. Disclosure of information in breach of section 22 constitutes an offence that is punishable by a maximum fine of 60 penalty units ($6000) or six months imprisonment or both.

The circumstances in which a person may disclose information obtained about a protected disclosure include:

• Where exercising the functions of the University under the Act;
• When making a report or recommendation under the Act;
• When publishing statistics in the University’s annual report; and
• In criminal proceedings for certain offences in the Act.

However, the Act prohibits the inclusion of particulars in any report or recommendation that is likely to lead to the identification of the whistleblower. The Act also prohibits the identification of the person who is the subject of the disclosure in any particulars included in the an annual report.