The yourtown Whistleblower Hotline is an independent and confidential service available to receive information relating to conduct at yourtown that is unlawful or unethical, and to improper states of affairs that may exist. We refer these things as ‘wrongdoing’.

Wrongdoing concerns breaches of law, contracts, or policies that may adversely affect yourtown. Wrongdoing includes:

• fraud, negligence, breaches of duty, and breaches of trust
• conduct that is an offence under law or that represents a danger to the public
• improper states of affairs such as those concerning legal compliance.

Many common types of personal work-related grievances cannot be reported as Whistleblower disclosures.

yourtown believes that all employees and other stakeholders can play a role in ensuring yourtown maintains its status as a transparent and ethical organisation. yourtown’s Whistleblower Protection Policy and the availability of the Whistleblower Hotline aim to:

• provide a safe and effective way for individuals to report wrongdoing
• support yourtown’s values and uphold our policies and procedures
• comply with the requirements of Corporations law.

People from the following groups can make Whistleblower disclosures:

• Past and present yourtown:
• Officers (e.g. Directors)
• Employees
• Suppliers and employees
• Volunteers
• Associates
• Relatives and dependents of the above.

People falling outside of these groups, such as clients and supporters, should use our feedback and complaints process to report concerns (www.yourtown.com.au/give-feedback).

yourtown has engaged Stopline Pty Ltd to receive, record and report to yourtown disclosures of wrongdoing.

Stopline serves as independent, confidential and impartial conduit for the reporting of wrongdoing. Stopline has people experienced in handling sensitive information from stakeholders, and Stopline’s involvement ensures Whistleblower confidentiality and anonymity is safeguarded in line with a Whistleblower’s wishes.

Reports can be made to Stopline using any of the communication channels found on the home page of this site.

No. Your call or report to Stopline Pty Ltd can, if you wish, be anonymous. Staff at Stopline will not ask for any personal details. You may volunteer information about yourself to Stopline if you choose.

If you do not wish to remain anonymous, your personal information may be provided to authorised personnel at yourtown to aid consideration of the matter/s you are wanting to report.

If you choose to remain anonymous, Stopline will issue you a confidential reference number and password so you can monitor the status of your disclosure.

We value and support people who report suspected wrongdoing.

We appreciate that Whistleblowers can find themselves in difficult and stressful circumstances, and may feel they are risking their job, career, or personal well-being in ‘coming forward’.

yourtown is committed to protecting Whistleblowers from detrimental action for making disclosures that attract protection under Whistleblower law. Detrimental actions include dismissal; changing an employee’s duties or role to their disadvantage; and discrimination, harassment, and intimidation. We are also committed to preventing breaches of your confidentiality.

Our Whistleblower Protection Policy, various policies and procedures, and our engagement of Stopline Pty Ltd are all in place to ensure these things don’t happen.

The service provided by Stopline Pty Ltd enables individuals to disclose wrongdoing they have observed or believe is happening. Stopline uses trained staff to receive these disclosures confidentially (and anonymously, if desired). Where there are reasonable grounds to suspect wrongdoing is occurring, confidential information about the disclosure is then provided to authorised (and only authorised) personnel at yourtown for consideration and action.

Authorised personnel are in place at yourtown to receive, investigate, and act upon information provided by Whistleblowers. These personnel are referred to as Eligible Recipients and are from the highest levels of the organisation. Eligible Recipients are responsible for protecting a Whistleblower’s confidentiality and preventing them from suffering detriment when reporting wrongdoing.

You can contact Stopline Pty Ltd if you have reasonable grounds to suspect that wrongdoing is occurring at yourtown (refer to What Can be Reported?, above).

You can telephone the Stopline on 1300 30 45 50 (in Australia) 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  A Stopline investigator will answer your call during business hours (0800 – 1800 Mon – Fri AEST).  Any messages left with our overnight team will be responded to within one working day. You can also send your disclosure via the internet (this website), email, facsimile or mail.

The experience of Stopline Pty Ltd is that vexatious reports are rare. The strength of the Stopline service is that all allegations are professionally managed by trained Stopline staff. Stopline focuses on the message, not the messenger. The Stopline Disclosure Officer may decline to investigate the matter if satisfied that the disclosure is trivial, frivolous or vexatious.

Yes. You will be kept advised about the status of the report, decisions made regarding how the matter is to be handled, timeframes that apply and the result of any investigation and action taken. If you choose to remain anonymous, you will be issued with a confidential reference and password and must initiate contact through one of the methods above to receive feedback.

Where a person who makes a Whistleblower disclosure is implicated in the wrongdoing, yourtown will use all reasonable efforts to protect the individual from detrimental action for making the disclosure. However, the act of disclosing wrongdoing does not shield a person from the reasonable consequences that may flow from their own involvement in the wrongdoing.

Refer to yourtown’s Whistleblower Protection Policy (look within the Policies tab on this site).

For information about Whistleblower law, visit the ASIC website at https://asic.gov.au/.