Whistle Blower Policy
Whistle blower Program Objectives
Akooramak Care of the Older Persons is committed to developing a culture of compliance and ethical behaviour and has developed this Program to deter wrongdoing and to encourage reporting of actual or suspected wrongdoing through appropriate channels. We are committed to protecting and respecting whistleblowers. This includes our commitments to protecting whistleblowers’ identities to the extent that it is practical and permitted by law, and to prohibiting reprisals, discrimination, harassment or victimisation against any suspected whistleblower, their colleagues or relatives.
This Whistleblower Program documents the internal governance mechanisms that the organisation must implement and maintain in order to ensure that whistleblowers are made aware of their rights and feel comfortable that they can make a whistleblower disclosure without fear of recrimination or reprisal.
The objectives of our Whistleblower Program are to:
- encourage and enable individuals to disclose actual or suspected wrongdoing knowing that their concerns will be taken seriously and investigated.
- give effect to whistleblower laws that prohibit regulated entities from taking adverse action against a whistleblower.
- provide clearly articulated guidance on how to disclose actual or suspected wrongdoing.
- provide a safe and confidential environment where individuals can raise reasonable concerns without fear of reprisal, even if their suspicions are not confirmed on investigation.
- enable the organisation to deal effectively with whistleblower disclosures in a transparent and timely way that protects the identity of the whistleblower, provides fair treatment to persons named in whistleblower disclosures, facilitates appropriate investigation of whistleblower disclosures and provides for the secure storage of the information provided and gathered.
- establish policies and procedures for protecting whistleblowers from retaliation, harassment or victimisation.
- provide for the appropriate governance infrastructure to allow the organisation to effectively implement and maintain our whistleblower procedures.
Information to Provide in a Whistleblower Disclosure
For a whistleblower disclosure to be investigated it must contain enough information to form a reasonable basis for investigation. This includes any known details about the events underlying the actual or suspected wrongdoing, including:
- a description of the events or activities, including locations
- the names of the people involved and their roles
- relevant dates and times
- possible witnesses to the events
- supporting documentary evidence of the events.
In your disclosure include any steps that you may have already taken to report the matter elsewhere or to resolve the concern.
You may provide a whistleblower disclosure anonymously; you may also provide non-identifying contact details when you make a disclosure. Depending on the method that you use to contact a Protected Disclosure Officer to make an anonymous disclosure, we may not be able to contact you if we need further information from you, which may make it more
difficult for us to investigate your disclosure and we may not be able to advise you of the outcome of the investigation.
If you provide your identity when you make your disclosure, this will help us to oversee your wellbeing.
A whistleblower should not use the whistleblower service to report a personal work-related grievance or a complaint about a matter, not amounting to misconduct, that could be effectively managed through our existing internal reporting procedures.
- the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission,
- the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing,
- an aged care worker or responsible person of Akooramak Care of the Older Persons, including through the web form
- the police; or
- an independent aged care advocate (such as Older Persons Advocacy Network).
You can report concerns anonymously, and you’ll still be protected under the Whistleblower Policy if your disclosure meets the policy’s criteria.
