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“I’ve got to tell my kids,and my 19-year-old son with autism,that we’ve got to sell the house to keep fighting this,” Mr Stolz toldThe Age andThe Sydney Morning Herald.
“They want to use the court system to run me out of money. They’re using ClubsNSW money against me,which is meant to be for the betterment of the industry.
“I never thought I’d have to sell my house for reporting criminal activity in clubs. I feel like I’m on my own.”
A ClubsNSW spokeswoman said in a statement that they intend to enforce the cost order against Mr Stolz.
“Mr Stolz has claimed that he is entitled to whistleblower protections in these proceedings. However,in ClubsNSW’s view,he has not made any whistleblowing disclosures under the law. ”
Under 2019 reforms,laws to protect whistleblowers were expanded to cover a larger group of staff from the corporate sector and workers were also given more protection. The reforms included changes to guard whistleblowers’ confidentiality and to prevent them from being threatened for their actions.
Commonwealth Bank whistleblower Jeff Morris expressed concern about the erosion of protections in Mr Stolz’s case and the significant financial burden he is now required to carry to defend the fallout from his disclosures.
“The corporations don’t care if the litigation goes anywhere – they’re exhausting your resources and can tie you up in court for years. Eventually,your morale has to crack,” he said.
“This is the reality of the whistleblower reforms enacted by this government – whistleblowers being left to fend for themselves in a court system where the deck is stacked against them.
“They’re facing this daunting prospect of taking on a corporate,who have unlimited funds,which in practical terms for most people means putting their house on the market.”
Mr Morris also condemned the alleged dismissal of Westpac senior risk executive Amanda Ware,whowas sacked just months after chief executive Peter King advised her to seek whistleblower protections.
The former Sydney-based corporate risk executive last month filed a lawsuit against the bank alleging Australia’s second-largest bank unfairly dismissed her last November after she raised a series of concerns about compliance gaps and risk failings with the bank’s top executives,including in a face-to-face meeting with Mr King.
Westpac wasordered in September last year to pay $1.3 billion in penalties after admitting to breaches of anti-money laundering laws and for failing to stop child-exploitation payments in what was the largest fine in Australian corporate history.
Mr Morris said Ms Ware’s case shows Westpac’s promises to clean up their act have not been met.
“Assuming the allegations are accurate,it’s very disturbing and shows nothing has really changed,” he said.
”It’s not a shining example to induce people to come forward and it’s a high price to pay to tell the truth. Ms Ware seems to be being made a scapegoat for the broader compliance issues.“
Ms Ware,formerly the bank’s managing director and head of first line risk for financial markets,is seeking losses and damages of five times her $750,000 annual income,as well as compensation for reputational damage,humiliation,pain,suffering,stress and diminished employment prospects.
In her statement of claim filed in the Federal Court last month,Ms Ware also pointed to “compliance gaps in its financial markets division that were also prevalent across the rest of the institutional bank and across the Westpac Group”.
In a face-to-face meeting in March,Ms Ware alleges Mr King said words to the effect that she had “very articulately expressed a number of very serious concerns and should consider whistleblower protection,” court documents say.
In response,Ms Ware claims to have said:“Why do I need protection … am I not safe?”
A senior lecturer in law at the University of Wollongong,Andy Schmulow,said Westpac’s actions show the bank hasn’t changed the corporate governance practices that landed them in the royal commission in the first place.
“What the management should be doing is saying:we can’t afford another billion-dollar fine,and we can’t afford the scandal and reputational harm that goes with that,” he said.
“Instead of that,they’ve told someone who is rocking the boat to get out. It’s gobsmacking.
“To take these people and hound them out it says:‘it is the end of your career at Westpac,think carefully,are you sure you want to do this?’”
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