The A.G. Coombs Group of Companies Whistleblower Hotline is an independent and confidential service available to receive information relating to improper conduct, unlawful or unethical behaviour and supports the A.G. Coombs’ Group values and Code of Conduct.

Any breaches of the Code of Conduct, related policies, and issues that may adversely affect A.G. Coombs. This may include any criminal offence, breach of legal obligation, unsafe behaviour, harassment or bullying (Refer the Whistleblower Policy under Policies for full details).

The A.G. Coombs Group of Companies believes that all employees, contractors and other stakeholders should be able to assist in ensuring that A.G. Coombs maintains its status as an ethical business. The A.G. Coombs Group of Companies is adopting best practice in this aspect of corporate governance and will be compliant with International and Australian corporate governance standards.

The A.G. Coombs Group of Companies has engaged an independent consultant to manage the receipt, recording and reporting of serious misconduct. Stopline is an independent, confidential and impartial conduit for information that enables the reporting of corrupt or improper conduct. Stopline has people experienced in handling sensitive information from stakeholders. Details of how you can make contact are listed further below or shown on the Homepage.

No. Your call to Stopline can, if you wish, be anonymous and the staff of Stopline will not ask for any personal details. You may volunteer the information anonymously to Stopline if you desire or you can be overt. If you do not wish to remain anonymous, this information may be provided to a Whistleblower Disclosure Officer (WDO) at A.G. Coombs. If you choose to remain anonymous Stopline will issue a confidential reference and password should you wish to seek the status of your disclosure at some later date. Some legislation (e.g. Corporations Act in Australia) will only provide legislative protection if the caller identifies themselves. Stopline can assist at the time of your contact.

The A.G. Coombs Group of Companies is committed to the protection of genuine Whistleblowers against action taken in reprisal for the making of protected disclosures. Maintaining confidentiality is a crucial component of this protection. All disclosures will be treated with a high level of confidentiality. A.G. Coombs has appointed Stopline to enhance confidentiality and anonymity within the A.G. Coombs Group of Companies with respect to Whistleblower procedures.

Stopline enables employees, contractors and stakeholders to report in good faith, suspected misconduct via telephone, email, internet, facsimile or mail, to an independent organisation with trained staff who will receive your concerns confidentially (anonymously if you wish) and provide the confidential information to a Whistleblower Disclosure Officer (WDO) at A.G. Coombs. The program then places procedural requirements on dealing with and finalising the outcome of the disclosure.

A Whistleblower Disclosure Officer (WDO) is a person within the A.G. Coombs Group of Companies who is responsible for ensuring that all serious complaints are handled appropriately. The WDO is responsible for A.G. Coombs’s role in managing disclosures and being the contact point for both Stopline and the A.G. Coombs Board.

The current Whistleblower Disclosure Officers (WDO) are Mr. Russell Telford, Managing Director and Ms. Deivina Peethamparam, General Counsel.

You can contact Stopline when you have knowledge of any fraudulent, corrupt, unlawful or unethical conduct by an employee and/or contractor.

You can telephone Stopline on 1300 30 45 50 (in Australia) or +61 3 9811 3275 (overseas – reverse charges) during business hours (0800 – 2000 Mon – Fri AEST) to speak with a trained Stopline interviewer. Any messages left will be responded to within one working day. You can also send your disclosure via the internet (this website), email, facsimile or mail.

Where a person who makes a disclosure is implicated in the misconduct, A.G. Coombs will use all reasonable efforts to protect the individual from reprisals; however, the act of reporting improper conduct may not shield the person from the reasonable consequences flowing from any involvement in serious misconduct.

Further information on the Hotline Service should be directed to Stopline on 1300 30 45 50 (in Australia) during business hours (0800 – 2000 Mon – Fri AEST).

The A.G. Coombs Group of Companies Policies are made available to Employees via the internal intranet or, you can find the Code of Conduct and Whistleblower Policy on this website via the Policies page.