The Mercy Health Whistleblower Hotline

The Mercy Health Whistleblower Hotline is an independent service run by Stopline that gives you the opportunity to report serious wrongdoing by Mercy Health and its officers, employees, and agents – anonymously if you wish.

The kinds of wrongdoing that should be reported through this service are:

• Whistleblower disclosures made under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth);
• Allegations of corrupt conduct in Mercy Health’s public sector services;
• Reports of modern slavery practices in Mercy Health’s operations and supply chain;
• Allegations of human rights abuses within Mercy Health;
• Allegations against workers or volunteers of child abuse and misconduct involving children;
• Complaints of victimisation arising from the making of a complaint to Mercy Health, or under the Aged Care Act 1997 (Cth) or National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013 (Cth).

Other complaints may be made locally or to Mercy Health’s Feedback team.

Statutory obligations

This service supports Mercy Health in complying with its statutory obligations to receive and respond to complaints about serious wrongdoing. See the list of relevant legislation under Mercy Health below.

Public sector disclosures

If your disclosure relates to corrupt or serious improper conduct by Mercy Health, its employees and agents when acting as part of the public sector, you may wish to make your disclosure to:

• Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (Vic)
• Independent Commission Against Corruption (NSW)
• Corruption and Crime Commission (WA)

For further information see Further Information – disclosures under state legislation.

Stopline

Stopline has been at the forefront of disclosure management services for over a decade and has partnered with some of Australia’s most iconic companies to assist them in demonstrating their commitment to supporting staff, contractors and other stakeholders with demonstrable best practice corporate governance initiatives.

The service that Stopline provides includes:

• A dedicated hotline number, website, mail and email address for employees, contractors and others to report serious wrongdoing
• Expert forensic investigators taking the calls and analysing disclosures.
• Timely reporting of incidents to dedicated representatives within Mercy Health.

Mercy Health

Introduction

Mercy Health is a Catholic not-for-profit organisation that provides a range of health, aged and community care services to communities in Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Western Australia and Queensland, as summarised below:

Corporate Structure

Mercy Health is comprised of Mercy Health Australia Ltd and its subsidiaries, as illustrated in the following diagram:

The membership of the Boards of all of the companies that make up Mercy Health, other than Mercy Health Foundation Ltd, is concurrent.  Mercy Health Foundation – which seeks philanthropic support for the work of Mercy Health – has a separate Board of Directors.

Services

The services that Mercy Health provides are summarised in the following table:

Relevant Legislation

Corporations Act

Mercy Health has a Whistleblower Policy and Procedure as required under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth). These are attached.  We consider that disclosures could be made in accordance with the Corporations Act in respect of any entity within the structure.

State Public Sector Anti-corruption Legislation

In addition, where a disclosure concerns a state-funded service in Victoria, New South Wales or Western Australia, whistleblower protections that are available under State law may also apply.

Aged Care Act

Complaints arising from the care we provide to residents under the Aged Care Act should be made locally or to our Feedback team. However, where you believe that you or another person has been victimised for making such a complaint, you can raise that matter through this website.

National Disability Insurance Scheme

Complaints arising from the care we provide to residents under the National Disability Insurance Scheme should be made locally or to our Feedback team. However, where you believe that you or another person has been victimised for making such a complaint, you can raise that matter through this website.

Modern Slavery Act

Finally, Mercy Health is looking to improve the operation of its anti-slavery efforts by giving people throughout the operations and supply chains of Mercy Health an opportunity to provide feedback about modern slavery practices in a safe way.

Table of Legislation