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Chilling tale of Origin Energy whistleblower

Adele Ferguson
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January 23 will be a day to remember for whistleblowers, regulators, politicians – and, of course, corporations.

On that day whistleblower Sally McDow, a highly credentialled lawyer and former senior compliance manager at Origin Energy, lodged the first ever case in Australia that tests whistleblower protections under the Corporations Act, alleging significant and dangerous compliance breaches, a deliberate cover-up by management and potential breaches of the Corporations Act.

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Why Australian whistleblowers deserve better

Whistleblowers who call out corporate corruption in America receive government payouts, but those in Australia face unemployment and an uncertain future.

Introduced in 2004, Part 9.4AAA of the Corporations Act was designed to protect whistleblowers from potential reprisals as a result of exposing wrongdoing. But it has far too many shortcomings.

It goes some way to explaining why corporate Australia is littered with whistleblowers who have taken enormous risks to speak out but ended up as collateral damage.

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McDow's case, to be heard in the Federal Court, will outline how she became a whistleblower at Origin Energy in 2015, her subsequent treatment and the impact on her life and career after she was made redundant in October 2015.

She was a lawyer with 17 years' experience in senior compliance roles, working on international investigations and policy developments related to money laundering (Enron, organised crime and Christopher Skase), corruption and bribery, ethics and employee codes of conduct.

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Now she claims she is unable to get a suitable job and has had periods when she alleges she has been too stressed to leave the house and personal relationships have been negatively impacted.

At the very least this case will put the spotlight on whistleblower protections in this country at a time when it is being heavily debated in parliament and the media.

A parliamentary joint committee (PJC) inquiry into corporate whistleblowers will hold a series of hearings in the first half of the year.

McDow's statement of claim alleges Origin is a company with serious compliance failures at its gas and oilfields, it has a culture of leaks, spills and explosions, and victimises and intimidates anyone who dares to speak out.

She alleges executives right up to the top, including former chief executive Grant King, who is now president of the Business Council of Australia, covered up some of the compliance failures, some of which were serious and should have been reported to the regulators and the ASX.

King referred questions from Fairfax Media to Origin, which strongly refuted the claims made by McDow and vowed to fight them vigorously in court.

Like many whistleblowers, McDow paints a sad and chilling picture of her treatment. She alleges management told staff she was being investigated and "made stuff up", "is going to make us lose our jobs", "is having a mental breakdown and calling it stress leave" and "is a faker and wants to hurt us".

She alleges the disclosure to staff that she was a whistleblower without her consent was intimidating and damaged her ability to get a job.

In October 2015, she alleges she applied for a job with an ASX-listed financial institution and was told the culture fit would not be right for "someone with her whistleblowing history". She alleges she had not told the company about the events at Origin.

She alleges she was told by a recruitment agency she was not employable in Brisbane due to her "known" status as a whistleblower and that she should change her name or move to another country.

Equally disturbing is the allegation that she isn't the only whistleblower to raise compliance concerns inside Origin.

One whistleblower, allegedly a field, health, safety operations and maintenance officer, told McDow she had reported on November 5, 2012 to senior executives a culture of cover-up at APLNG sites and a lack of compliance with mandatory standards, rules, legislative obligations relating to safety. Alleged harassment and victimisation forced her to leave in early 2013.

Another whistleblower, allegedly a pipelines supervisor on the APLNG project, lodged a whistleblower report in mid 2013, outlining a series of concerns that the pipelines were "continuing to be operated, despite a lack of preventative maintenance which should have been reported to regulators and which could result in an increased risk of pipeline asset failure".

Alleged victimisation resulted in her departure in 2014. A number of others, who spoke up about inappropriate conduct, allegedly left the company.

Whatever the merits of her case, the legal action will bring to the forefront the treatment of whistleblowers in this country. ASIC, which has a keen interest in whistleblowers, will be sure to take a front row seat in the courts.

Some of the country's biggest scandals – Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank, Macquarie, IOOF and 7-Eleven – would not have come to light without the brave contribution of whistleblowers. They all paid a heavy price.