Privacy Policy

This privacy policy (Policy) governs the collection, use and disclosure of personal information by Hygain Holdings Pty Ltd and the related companies listed at the end of this Policy (collectively referred to as Hygain, we, us, and our).

In this Policy ‘personal information’ means information about an identified or identifiable individual (a natural person). This Policy outlines how we manage personal information including in accordance with all applicable privacy and data regulation laws, including the Australian Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and Australian Privacy Principles, and the New Zealand Privacy Act 1993 (and from 1 December 2020, the Privacy Act 2020) and/or United States privacy laws such as the California Consumer Privacy Act (in each case, where applicable) (together, Privacy Laws).  

Application of this Policy

This Policy applies if you:

• are one of our customers (including our distributors and retailers), consumers, contractors or suppliers;
• use any of our products and services;
• visit our websites at www.hygainfeeds.com or any of our affiliated websites (Sites), any of our social media channels or subscribe to our marketing lists (Channels); or
• are employed by us or seeking employment with us, (referred to as you and your).

By using our products, services and/or otherwise providing us with your personal information, you

authorise us to collect, hold, use and disclose that personal information in accordance with this Policy.

This Policy is in addition to any other applicable terms and conditions that may apply to your relationship and/or engagement with us.

Collection – How we collect information about you

Who we collect information about

We may collect and hold personal information about:

• current, potential and former customers (being retail stores and distributors), and their respective employees and contractors, and end consumers;
• current, potential and former service providers, and/or suppliers, and their respective employees and contractors;
• current and prospective employees and contractors of Hygain, and their next-of-kin or emergency contacts;
• individuals we deal with in the course of carrying on our business; and
• other people who come into contact with Hygain.

Information we collect

We collect personal information in order to manage and conduct our business, to provide and market our products and services and to meet our legal obligations.  Depending upon the nature of your relationship with us, the type of personal information we collect and hold may include:

General: information as required for our relationship with you, such as: 

• your name, address, contact details, date of birth, and documents that verify your identity and other personal details;
• your driver’s licence, passport and/or visa details;
• the number of horses you own or train (as applicable), the type of equestrian sport you participate in, and other relevant horse information;
• photographs you submit to us, such as for competitions;
• your membership of an industry, professional or equestrian body (e.g. Pony Club, Equestrian Australia or State/Territory equivalent);
• your financial information, such as your bank account details, credit card details or payment history;
• credit information;
• details of the products and services we have provided to you, or that you’ve enquired about, including any additional information necessary to deliver those products and services and respond to your enquiries;
• details of the products and services you have provided to us;
• records of our communications with you, including any complaints, requests or queries;
• information that you post to our Sites or Channels;
• when you access our products or services, or our Sites or Channels we may collect information that is sent to us by your computer, mobile device or other access device, including – your device ID, device type, IP address, geo-location, computer and connection information, referral URL, statistics on page views, and traffic to and from and information about your usage of our products, services and Sites, including through the use of cookies and other technologies. (See “Cookies and links to other Sites” section below for more information);
• CCTV footage from any of our premises;
• any other personal information that may be required in order to facilitate your dealings with us and/or to assist us in conducting our business, providing and marketing our services and meeting our legal obligations;
• information we create in the course of our relationship with you, such as details or evaluations of your interactions with us.

For end consumers, if you are under the age of 16, we will seek parental consent prior to collecting any personal information about you.

For current or prospective employees, contractors, suppliers and/or visitors to our premises/sites: information for the purpose of commencing and conducting a business or employment relationship with you.  This may include:

• information about your occupation, employment history, education and suitability for the role or relationship, including criminal history, social media profiles and whether you hold any licences/permits required for the role;
• name and details of emergency contacts;
• your tax file number / IRD number, tax status and citizenship or residency details;
• information about licences or qualifications relevant to your position, such as forklift license details;
• your car registration information;
• your health and medical information, including medical history, condition and treatment plan, and contact details for your medical practitioners and treatment providers;
• diversity information, which might include gender, ethnicity, languages spoken, relationship status etc; and
• information about your performance in the role or relationship, including results of drug testing (if applicable).

For health and safety and/or COVID-19: information for the purpose of health and safety compliance and/or complying with COVID-19 guidelines set down by the Australian Government and Australian State and Territory Governments or the New Zealand Government, or otherwise in accordance with applicable law, to enable Hygain to make informed health and safety decisions. This may include:

• biometric or other health information including temperature checks;
• recent personal health history including details regarding communicable diseases; recent overseas travel, contact with any person(s) who have travelled overseas in the preceding 14 days, if you have tested positive for COVID-19 or are awaiting test results, or are experiencing any COVID-19 symptoms.

Who we collect personal information from

We use different methods to collect your personal information. We will generally collect personal information directly from you (e.g. in person, by telephone or through written information or forms that you submit to us). However, we may also collect personal information:

• from you indirectly (including through the use of services and facilities available through our Sites and Channels);
• from current, potential and former service providers, suppliers and their employees and contractors, investors, employees, individuals we deal with in the course of carrying out our business and other people who come into contact with Hygain;
• from third parties in some instances, for example, a report provided by a medical professional or an employment reference from another person. Other third parties may include credit reference organisations, service providers we engage to manage our investors, recruitment and labour hire companies, and suppliers of services to us (including online advertising services), or third parties where we have your authorisation to that collection;
• from CCTV cameras that may be placed on and around our premises;
• from Industry Publications, such as Race Trainer Associations; and
• from publicly available websites or sources.

If you have provided us with information about another person, you warrant that you have that person’s permission to do so. Your obligations under the relevant Privacy Laws may also mean that you need to tell that person about the disclosure and let them know that they have a right to access their personal information and that we will handle their personal information in accordance with this Policy.

What happens if you don’t provide us with personal information

You are not required to provide us with your personal information. However, in some cases, if personal information we request is not provided, it may affect our ability to do business with you, including that:

• we may be unable to supply the relevant product or service or to perform our obligations to you;
• we may not be able to offer you credit; and
• if you are an applicant for employment, we may not be able to process your application for a position at Hygain.

How we use personal information

In general, we collect, hold, use and disclose your personal information in accordance with this Policy, including for the following purposes:

• to verify your identity;
• to provide and market our products and services to you;
• to help us operate, protect, manage, improve, conduct and develop our business (including our products and services), and our users’ experience, for example, by performing analytics and conducting research;
• to communicate with you;
• subject to your consent, to keep you informed about our products and services and tell you about our promotions;
• to manage our information and loyalty programs;
• to maintain and administer your records, including (where relevant) your employee records;
• to process, administer, collect payments from or make payments to you, and if applicable, make appropriate taxation deductions;
• to assess suitability of potential employees or contractors;
• to manage and meet obligations in relation to our employees and contractors;
• to ensure health and safety on our premises;
• to engage third parties on your behalf (where authorised);
• to purchase goods or services;
• to respond to any feedback, queries or complaints;
• to conduct appropriate checks for credit-worthiness;
• to provide joint marketing initiatives with other service providers;
• to perform data analysis and/or market research;
• to identify, prevent or investigate any actual or suspected fraud, unlawful activity or threats to our systems or any person;
• to comply with our legal obligations, including our reporting obligations; and
• as otherwise may be required for the general management and conduct of our business.

In addition, CCTV footage specifically may be used for the following purposes:

• detecting and deterring unauthorised access to, and criminal behaviour on, our premises;
• monitoring the safety and security of our employees, contractors, suppliers and visitors, and completing incident investigations; and
• reviewing the actions of our employees and contractors.

Credit information 

We sometimes provide products and services to our customers on credit. In the course of providing credit, we will sometimes collect certain credit information from individuals, for instance, where the credit application relates to a sole trader, company director or guarantor. Such credit information may include:

• identity and contact details;
• details of other credit arrangements including the relevant dates and applicable terms and conditions;
• details of previous credit applications including the amount and type of credit and credit limit; and
• details of any credit defaults, adverse court judgments or insolvency.

By providing us with your credit information, you authorise us to use and disclose your credit information for the following purposes:

• to assess relevant credit or guarantee applications;
• to monitor and produce assessments in relation to your credit worthiness;
• to review and manage your credit account;
• to obtain credit reports and disclose credit information to credit reporting bodies (CRBs); and
• to disclose credit reports to any solicitors and mercantile agents for enforcement and recovery purposes.

If we intend to use CRBs, we will provide information to you about the CRBs that we may use.

Under the Australian Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), individuals may request CRBs not to:

• use their credit-related personal information to determine their eligibility to receive direct marketing from credit providers; and
• use or disclose their credit information, if they have been or are likely to be a victim of fraud.

Individuals may have similar rights under the laws of other jurisdictions, where relevant.  Please see other sections of this Policy below, for further information regarding access, deletion, and correction requests,complaints and how we generally handle personal information.

Who we may disclose personal information to

We may disclose your personal information:

• for the purpose for which it was collected (or a purpose that is directly related to the purpose in connection with which the information was obtained);

• for any other purpose for which you have authorised;

• where we are permitted or required to do so by law; and

• to our related companies in connection with the purposes set out in this Policy.

Some of the recipients we may disclose your personal information to include:

• our related companies and third party service providers who help us to deliver our products and services to you and to conduct our business. These third parties provide a variety of services, including client contact, customer support, archiving, auditing, professional advisory, banking, data processing and storage, marketing and advertising, promotions and discounts, recruitment, data analysis, business intelligence, website and technology services;
• to credit reporting bodies, where applicable in connection with the issuance of credit;
• to comply with the law or respond to legal process or a request for cooperation by a government entity, to prevent fraud or verify and enforce compliance with the policies governing our products and services or your interactions with us, and to protect the rights, property, or safety of us, or any of our related companies, business partners, customers or employees.
• in the event that we sell or transfer all or a portion of a business or our assets to a third party, such as in connection with a merger or in the unlikely event of a bankruptcy reorganisation or liquidation.

Offshore disclosure

Your personal information may be transferred to other jurisdictions, including to our related companies and third parties located in Australia, New Zealand and the United States.

We will take reasonable measures to ensure that any cross-border disclosure is in compliance with the requirements of the relevant Privacy Laws. For example, where required by relevant Privacy Laws, by taking such steps as are reasonable in the circumstances to ensure that those organisations are either subject to, or comply with, applicable privacy laws that, overall, provide comparable safeguards to those under the relevant Privacy Laws.

Security of your personal information

We take steps to protect personal information held by us from misuse and loss and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure, for example through the use of technical and physical security measures, including restricting access to electronic records through technical access restrictions. You should understand that no data storage system or transmission of data over the internet or any other public network can be guaranteed to be 100 percent secure, accurate, complete, or current. Please note that information collected by third parties may not have the same security protections as information you submit to us, and we are not responsible for protecting the security of such information.

Access, deletion, correction and retention of your personal information

Access and Deletion

You may be entitled to request that we provide access to (or, in some jurisdictions, delete) your personal information in accordance with applicable laws, and may do so by contacting our Privacy Officer. Please see the “How to contact us and complaints” section below for more contact information. In processing your request, we will comply with our obligations under the relevant Privacy Laws, noting that we may need to request additional information to verify your identity before we allow you to access or delete your personal information, and are permitted to withhold the disclosure or refuse deletion of personal information in prescribed circumstances. 

Correction

You may be entitled to request that we correct your information in accordance with applicable law. If you believe the personal information we hold about you is inaccurate, incomplete or out of date, please contact our Privacy Officer. If you satisfy us that any personal information we hold about you is not accurate, complete or up-to-date, we will amend our records accordingly. If we are not willing to correct your personal information as requested, you may request us to attach a statement of correction to the information in a manner that ensure it will always be read with the information.

Retention.

We will retain your personal information for as long as we require it to fulfil the purpose for which it was collected, unless a longer retention period is required for the purpose of discharging our legal, accounting and reporting requirements or for our other business purposes where permitted under applicable law.

Where we no longer require your personal information, we will use reasonable endeavours to comply with our legal obligations in respect of that information (e.g. by de-identifying or destroying such personal information).

Marketing and opting out

We may use your personal information to contact you from time to time whether by email, phone or SMS, to identify a product or service that you may be interested in or to tell you about new products or services, special offers, promotions and events.  Where required by applicable law, we will obtain your consent prior to sending direct marketing communications to you.

If you do not want us to contact you for these purposes, you can withdraw your consent and let us know at any time by unsubscribing from the mailing list by clicking on the link in the marketing communication or by contacting the Privacy Officer (at the contact details below).

Cookies and links to other sites

To improve our Sites and advertising, and to help us better understand browsing behaviour, when you use our Sites we and third parties may use website measurement software and other analytics tools and services (including Google Analytics) to gather information such as traffic patterns, mouse click activity, IP addresses, and any other information you may provide through use of our Sites.  We may also use analytics tools available on our Channels.

Like many other websites on the internet, Hygain may use browser cookies, pixel tags, local storage, and other similar technologies (collectively “cookies” to collect and store information about you when you are on our Site or Channels. For example, a cookie is a data file that is sent to your browser from a web server and stored on your computer (or other device), then sent back to the server by your browser each time you access certain sections of our Site or Channels.

This information helps us to remember your preferences and can help us to provide a tailored experience and customised content and material on our Sites and Channels. This information may be retained in an anonymous or aggregated form after we have erased personal information that identifies you from our systems.

You can choose to disable cookies via your device’s website browser settings.  However, if you choose to reject cookies, you may not be able to use or access some features of the services that we offer.

If you would like to opt out of your data being used for Google Analytics, please visit https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.

Hygain may have links or references to other websites from our Sites or Channels. This Policy does not apply to those websites and we take no responsibility for any information collected by such third parties.

Do-Not-Track Signals and Similar Mechanisms. Some mobile and web browsers transmit “do-not-track” signals. Because of differences in how web browsers incorporate and activate this feature, it is not always clear whether users intend for these signals to be transmitted, or whether they even are aware of them. We currently do not take action in response to these signals.

Changes to this Policy

This Policy is current as at November 2020. We may amend and update this Policy from time to time to take account of new laws and technology, changes to our operations and practices and the changing business environment. The most current version of this Policy is located at https://hygain.com.au/pages/privacy-policy and can be obtained by contacting our Privacy Officer via the details below.

We will provide you with reasonable notice before we implement any change by posting a statement on our website, or we may also announce it by email (if we have your email address). The date of this Policy will otherwise inform you as to whether there have been updates since your last visit.

How to contact us and complaints

If you have any questions about personal information or are unhappy with how we’ve handled your personal information, please contact our Privacy Officer using the following contact details:

By post:           PO Box 199, Officer, VICTORIA 3809

By email:           Attention, Privacy Officer

By email:         Attention, Privacy Officer

We will investigate any complaint and respond to you as quickly as possible and in accordance with applicable law. For further information about making a privacy complaint, or the progress or outcome of any investigation, please contact the Privacy Officer using the details above.

If you’re not satisfied with how we’ve handled your complaint, you can contact, where applicable:

• Australia: the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at: GPO Box 5218, Sydney NSW 2001 or by email to .
• New Zealand: the Office of the New Zealand Privacy Commissioner at: https://www.privacy.org.nz/about-us/contact/
• United States: Consumers may have rights to contact the Federal Trade Commission or their state attorney general.

Hygain related companies

Australia

HYG HoldCo Pty Ltd

HYG BidCo Pty Ltd

Hygain NSW Pty Ltd t/a Mitavite

Hygain Holdings Pty Ltd

Hy Gain Feeds Pty Ltd

Hygain Property Management Pty Ltd

 

New Zealand

Hygain Feeds NZ Limited

 

United States

Hygain Feeds International, Inc.

WHISTLEBLOWER POLICY                                                                                                                                  

1.      INTRODUCTION & PURPOSE

HYGAIN group of Companies strives to operate with a culture of ethical and appropriate corporate behaviour in all our business activities. This includes ensuring that the Company acts with integrity, honestly and in accordance with good governance principles.

 

This purpose is supported by:

•  ensuring that the Company has sound procedures to allow all workers and their families to identify and report genuine concerns about illegal conduct or any improper state of affairs pertaining to the Company, without fear of reprisals; and

• ensuring all employees and officers of the Company are aware of the protections available under this policy and Whistleblower

In this policy:

Discloser(s) refers to the persons eligible to make a disclosure protected by Whistleblower Laws. These persons are identified in section 5 below.

Protected Matters refers to the types of matters outlined at section 4 below, which are protected by Whistleblower Laws and the terms of this policy.

Whistleblower Laws refers to the protections contained in the Corporations Act 2001 and important changes made to this Act by the Treasury Laws Amendment (Enhancing Whistleblower Protections) Act 2019.

Whistleblowing Officers are:

Kevin Bareira

CEO

Ph: 0424 233 323

E : 

 

Tara Hall
HR Officer

Ph: 03 5943 2255

Email:

 

2.      COMMENCEMENT AND SCOPE

This policy commenced on 3 October 2019. It replaces all other policies dealing with whistleblowers and Whistleblower Laws.

The protections and requirements contained in this policy apply to all Disclosers, as defined in section 5 below.

The policy is not intended to create any contractually binding obligation on the Company and does not form part of any contract of employment or other contract for engagements with the Company.

 

3.      TYPES OF DISCLOSURES PROTECTED BY WHISTLEBLOWER LAWS

A disclosure is protected by Whistleblower Laws if:

1. the disclosure relates to Protected Matters;
2. the information is disclosed by a Discloser identified in section 5 below; and
3. the disclosure is made to one of the persons identified in section 6 below or section 7 below (provided the pre-requisites in section 7 have been satisfied).

All of the above 3 conditions must be satisfied for a disclosure to be protected by Whistleblower Laws.

 

4.        PROTECTED MATTERS

The types of disclosures which are protected are those where the Discloser has reasonable grounds to suspect that the information disclosed concerns misconduct, or an improper state of affairs or circumstances, in relation to the Company or its related bodies corporate.

These types of Protected Matters would include concerns that the Company, its related bodies corporate or employees or officers of the Company or its related bodies corporate, have engaged in conduct that:

1. constitutes a contravention of the Corporations Act 2001, the ASIC Act, the Competition and Consumer Act 2010, the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993, the Banking Act 1959 or any insurance or life insurance statutes;
2. financial fraud, corruption or irregular activities or use of Company funds or property;
3. illegal activities including conduct that constitutes an offence against a law of the Commonwealth which is punishable by imprisonment for 12 months or more; and/or
4. represents a danger to the public or the financial

The disclosure of information related to a personal work-related grievance is not generally protected by Whistleblower Laws. A personal work-related grievance relates to information where:

1. the information concerns a grievance in relation to the Discloser’s employment or former employment

which has implications for the Discloser personally; and

1. the information does not have significant implications for the Company that do not relate to the Discloser; and
2. the information does not concern conduct or alleged conduct referred to in the three examples cited at sections (a) to (c) earlier

Examples of personal work-related grievances include interpersonal conflicts between the Discloser and other employees, decisions regarding engaging, transferring or promoting a Discloser and decisions to discipline a Discloser or suspend or terminate the engagement of a Discloser.

 

5.        WHO MAY MAKE DISCLOSURES ABOUT PROTECTED MATTERS? 

Each of the following persons may make a protected disclosure:

• the Company employees and officers as well as their relatives and dependants;
• former Company employees and officers;
• suppliers of goods or services to the Company;
• employees of suppliers of goods or services to the Company;
• the Company related bodies corporate (and their directors/secretaries); and
• any organisation (and its employees) that has a relationship or association with the Company as a customer, supplier, adviser, agent or otherwise;

(Disclosers).

There is no requirement for a Discloser to identify themselves to be protected by Whistleblower Laws. That is, protected disclosures may be made anonymously.

 

6.        WHO CAN A PROTECTED MATTER BE DISCLOSED TO?

In order to be protected by Whistleblower Laws, the disclosure of a Protected Matter must be made to:

• A person authorised by the Company to receive disclosures;
• ASIC or APRA;
• a legal practitioner for the purposes of obtaining legal advice or representation in relation to Whistleblower Laws;
• an officer or senior manager of the Company or its related bodies corporate;
• an auditor or member of an audit team conducting an audit on the Company or its related bodies corporate;
• an actuary of the Company; and/or
• the Whistleblowing

A “senior manager” is a person who:

• makes, or participates in making, decisions that affect the whole, or a substantial part, of the business of the Company; or

• has the capacity to significantly affect the Company financial

 

7.        DISCLOSURES TO POLITICIANS AND JOURNALISTS 

A disclosure of a Protected Matter to a journalist or member of State or Federal Parliament will be protected by Whistleblower Laws only if it qualifies for the public interest requirements or emergency requirements outlined below.

 

Public interest disclosures

A disclosure of Protected Matters to a member of State or Federal Parliament or journalist will be protected by Whistleblower Laws if all of the following requirements are satisfied:

1. the Discloser has previously made a disclosure of the information pursuant to this policy;
2. at least 90 days have passed since the previous disclosure was made;
3. the Discloser does not have reasonable grounds to believe that action is being or has been taken to address the previous disclosure;
4. the Discloser has reasonable grounds to believe that making a further disclosure of the information to a member of Parliament or journalist would be in the public interest;
5. the Discloser has given the Company written notification that identifies the previous disclosure and states that the Discloser intends to make a public interest disclosure; and
6. the extent of information disclosed is no greater than is necessary to inform the journalist or member of Parliament of the relevant misconduct or improper state of

Emergency disclosures

A disclosure of Protected Matters to a journalist or member of State or Federal Parliament will be protected by Whistleblower Laws if all of the following requirements are satisfied:

1. the Discloser has previously made a disclosure of the information pursuant to this policy;
2. the Discloser has reasonable grounds to believe that the information concerns a substantial and imminent danger to the health or safety of one or more persons or to the natural environment;
3. the Discloser has given the Company written notification that identifies the previous disclosure and states that the Discloser intends to make an emergency disclosure; and
4. the extent of information disclosed is no greater than is necessary to inform the journalist or member of Parliament of the substantial and imminent

 

8.        CONFIDENTIALITY

Where a disclosure is protected by Whistleblower Laws, the Laws prohibit persons from disclosing the identity of a Discloser or disclosing information that is likely to lead to the identification of the Discloser.

Persons may only disclose the identity of a Discloser with the Discloser’s consent or to ASIC, APRA, the AFP or a

legal practitioner for the purposes of obtaining legal advice about the Whistleblower Laws.

Persons may also disclose the existence of the Protected Matters (without disclosing the identity of the Discloser) to the extent necessary for the matters to be investigated, provided all reasonable steps are taken to reduce the risk that the Discloser’s identity can be discovered. These disclosures may include disclosures to:

• the Managing Director, the Chief Executive Officer or the Chief Financial

• delegates to HR or other managers to make inquires or to conduct investigations or order external investigations as is deemed appropriate; and

• disclosures to respondents to complaints to ensures that the person/s against whom allegations are made are given the opportunity to respond to any

Any breach of these confidentiality protections attract significant fines for both individuals and companies.

 

9.        IMMUNITY FOR DISCLOSER

There is an expectation that anyone reporting a wrongdoing has reasonable grounds to suspect the information they are disclosing is true, but there will be no penalty if the information turns out to be incorrect. This does not apply to disclosures that are found to be vexatious and known by the Discloser to be untrue. Those reporting are expected to provide the information upon which their suspicion is based but are not required to have all the details or have conducted their own inquiries.

If a Discloser makes a disclosure protected by Whistleblower Laws, the Discloser cannot be subject to any civil or criminal liability for making the disclosure and cannot be subject to any contractual breach or other civil claim on the basis of the disclosure.

No contract of employment or contract for services can be terminated on the basis that a protected disclosure constitutes a breach of contract.

 

10.    VICTIMISATION PROHIBITED

Whistleblower Laws prohibit any person or company from:

1. engaging in any conduct that causes detriment to any person because that person (or another person) made a disclosure about a Protected Matter pursuant to Whistleblower Laws; or
2. carrying out any threats to cause detriment to any person (whether express or implied threats) because that person (or another person) made a disclosure about a Protected Matter pursuant to Whistleblower 

Where a person or company engages in breaches of these protections, significant civil and criminal penalties including fines may apply and persons who are adversely affected may obtain compensation orders from a Court in relation to any detriment caused.

Persons who have their contracts terminated in contravention of these protections may also have their contracts reinstated by a Court.

 

11.    REPORTING AND INVESTIGATING PROTECTED MATTERS

Persons may disclose Protected Matters by either of the following steps:

1. Submit a written complaint or report and any relevant documentation on any Protected Matters to the person identified in Section 6 of this policy who is the Discloser’s relevant manager or the Company contact. The manager or contact will report the concerns to the Whistleblowing
2. If a Discloser has a concern with Step 1 (for example the Discloser reasonably believes that the manager is involved in the Protected Matters or the Discloser does not feel comfortable reporting it to their manager for any other reason), then the Discloser may submit a report directly to the Whistleblowing

In all instances, the recipient of the disclosure of Protected Matters will report the disclosure to the Whistleblowing Officer. The Whistleblowing Officer will maintain a confidential register of disclosure, the outcome of investigations and any required remediation. This register is strictly confidential and information in it will not be disclosed to anyone outside of the Whistleblowing Officer without the express approval of the Discloser and the Whistleblowing Officer. The Whistleblowing Officer may provide high level, anonymised reports to the Compliance and Audit Committee or the Board.

Investigations

The Company will refer Protected Matters to its Whistleblowing Officers for investigation to determine whether misconduct or some other improper state of affairs exists.

The Whistleblowing Officers will investigate the relevant matters in a manner compliant with the confidentiality obligations outlined in Section 8 of this policy.

The Whistleblowing Officers may alternatively:

• appoint an appropriately qualified and impartial person or entity to investigate the relevant matters; or
• refer Protected Matters directly to ASIC, APRA or the Australian Federal

Whilst every investigation process will differ according to the relevant circumstances, the Whistleblowing Officers will ordinarily ensure that appropriate enquiries are made to determine whether:

1. the allegations are substantiated; and
2. responsive action needs to be taken in order to address any established misconduct or other improper state of affairs.

All records and documents created from an investigation will be retained securely. Unauthorised release of information to someone not involved in the investigation without the consent of the Discloser, will be in breach of this Policy.

 

12.   SUPPORTING WHISTLEBLOWERS, PROVIDING FAIR TREATMENT AND PROTECTION FROM DETRIMENT

The Corporations Act 2001 provides specific protections for Disclosers relating to, identity protection and confidentiality (referred to above), protection from detrimental acts or omissions and protection from civil, criminal and administrative liability.

The Company intends to support Disclosers making disclosures about Protected Matters and to put in place procedures to promote fair treatment of Disclosers and protect them from detriment. This can be achieved by:

 

273. Providing access to EAP counselling services to all These services may be accessed by contacting Acacia EAP on 1300 364 273.
274. Investigating all complaints in accordance with the procedures outlined in this
275. Implementing investigation processes which are procedurally fair to both Disclosers and respondents to
276. In circumstances where a Discloser consents, having an appropriate senior manager or human resources officer monitor the Discloser’s treatment in the workplace for relevant periods to ensure no victimisation takes
277. Communicating this policy to the Company employees and
278. Taking appropriate disciplinary action against any employees or contractors that breach the victimisation or confidentiality provisions of the Whistleblower

 

13.   ACCESS TO THIS POLICY

This policy will be made available to all Company employees and officers by the following means:

 

• The policy will be uploaded to Employment Hero, which all employees and officers can access via their personal portal and made available on the company’s external website.
• On implementation, the policy will be communicated to all employees and officers by way of Toolbox Talk.
• The policy will otherwise be disclosed to employees on commencement of

 

14.   BREACHES OF THIS POLICY

All employees and contractors of the Company are required to comply with this policy at all times as well as with Whistleblower Laws.

Non-compliance with this policy or Whistleblower Laws may result in disciplinary action up to and including termination of employment or termination of a contractor’s services.

 

15.   POLICY REVIEW

This policy may be varied, amended, replaced or terminated from time to time and at any time at the absolute discretion of the Company.

 

16.   REFERENCES

This policy was drafted taking into account the:

• Corporations Act 2001 (Cth)
• Treasury Laws Amendment (Enhancing Whistleblower Protections) Act 2019 (Cth)
• ASIC Guidance for whistleblowers (INFO 52)
• Taxation Administration Act 1953 (Cth)

This policy applies to disclosure made to Hygain in relation to matters within Part 9.4AAA (protection for whistleblowers) under the Corporations Act 2001. Part IVD of the Taxation Administration Act 1953 also contains whistleblower protections. This policy covers the types of disclosers protected by these Acts.

 

17.   OTHER RESOURCES

ASIC whistleblower resources

ASIC has information regarding whistleblowing available from its website at: https://asic.gov.au/about-asic/asic-investigations-and-enforcement/whistleblowing/

In relation to rights and protections for whistleblowers, see Information Sheet 238 Whistleblower rights and protections: https://asic.gov.au/about-asic/asic-investigations-and-enforcement/whistleblowing/whistleblower-rights-and-protections/

For information for recipients of disclosures, see Obligations on company officers: https://asic.gov.au/for-business/running-a-company/company-officeholder-duties/whistleblowers-company-officeholder-obligations/

ATO whistleblower resources

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) introduced new arrangements to protect whistleblowers. Information is available from: https://www.ato.gov.au/general/gen/whistleblowers/.

Policy Review Date: 21/08/2020 Reviewed By KINGSTON Reid

(On behalf of Adamantem Capital)

Next Review Date: 21/08/2021