Any “protected disclosure” under Australian whistleblowing laws. This includes fraudulent, corrupt, unlawful or unethical conduct, or other serious misconduct, by a member, officer, employee or contractor of the Advara HeartCare group. This may include any criminal offence, breach of legal obligation, and unsafe behaviour. See the Whistleblowing Policy for all the circumstances that may constitute a “protected disclosure”.

Advara HeartCare has engaged an independent consultant to offer an independent pathway for the receipt, recording and reporting of reports. Stopline is an independent, confidential and impartial conduit for information. Stopline has people experienced in handling sensitive information from stakeholders.

This does not replace Advara HeartCare’s internal whistleblowing reporting pathways, these are still available as outlined in the Advara HeartCare Whistleblowing Policy.

Stopline is an Australian company which specialises in providing integrity/whistleblowing services. It has been operating for over a decade and assists listed and private companies, local, state and Commonwealth public sector bodies and not-for-profit organisations. Further details are available at www.stopline.com.au

No. Your report 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 the Whistleblower Protection Officer at Advara HeartCare. 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. 

Advara HeartCare is committed to the protection of genuine Whistleblowers. This includes encouraging the reporting of information that would qualify as a “protected disclosure” under whistleblowing laws without fear of reprisal.

For this reason it is important to make sure the matter you are reporting, meets the description of a “protected disclosure”, as set out in the Advara HeartCare Whistleblowing Policy.

If the report / disclosure meets the definition of “protected disclosure”, you qualify for legal protections. This includes that, if you are an employee or contractor, your position and duty within the business will not be altered to you disadvantage and will not otherwise be subjected to detriment because you made a protected disclosure. The full list of protections is set out in the Whistleblower Policy.

Maintaining confidentiality is also a crucial component of this protection. All disclosures will be treated with a high level of confidentiality, and by using Stopline’s service, you may elect to remain anonymous or not have your details passed on to Advara HeartCare (though this may affect the ability to property investigate the disclosure). If you do disclose your identity to Advara HeartCare, they will keep your identity confidential as required by law and, when investigating the matter, take all reasonable steps to reduce any risk of identification.

If the matter does not meet the description of a “protected disclosure”, you will not have the protection of the whistleblowing laws. If you have a concern that does not meet the description of “protected disclosure”, it should be reported in accordance with the applicable Advara HeartCare policy and reporting structure.

Stopline enables employees, contractors and stakeholders to report in good faith, suspected misconduct via telephone, email, internet 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 the Whistleblower Protection Officer at Advara HeartCare. The program then necessitates procedural requirements dealing with and finalising the outcome of the disclosure.

A Whistleblower Protection Officer is a person within Advara HeartCare responsible for ensuring that all disclosures are handled appropriately. A Whistleblower Protection Officer is responsible for Advara HeartCare’s role in managing disclosures and being the contact point for both Stopline and Advara HeartCare.

You can contact Stopline when you have knowledge of any conduct by an Advara HeartCare group member, officer, employee or contractor that qualifies as a “protected disclosure”. This includes fraudulent, corrupt, unlawful or unethical conduct, or other serious misconduct. This may include any criminal offence, breach of legal obligation, and unsafe behaviour. See the Whistleblowing Policy for all the circumstances that may constitute a “protected disclosure”.

You can call Stopline on 1300 30 45 50 (in Australia) 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  A Stopline investigator will answer your call during business hours (0800 – 1800 Mon – Fri AEST).  Any messages left with our overnight team will be responded to within one working day. You can also send your disclosure via the internet (this website), email, or mail.

The strength of Stopline is that all allegations will be professionally managed by trained Stopline staff. The experience of Stopline is that vexatious reports occur very infrequently. However, when it is shown that a person purporting to be an eligible whistleblower has knowingly made a false report of wrongdoing, then under Advara HeartCare’s Whistleblowing Policy that conduct itself will be considered a serious matter and that person may be subject to disciplinary action up to and including termination.

Yes. You will be kept advised about the status of the report, decisions made regarding how the matter is to be handled, time frames that apply and the result of any investigation and action taken as that information is communicated with Stopline. If you choose to remain anonymous, you will be issued with a confidential reference and password and must initiate contact through one of the methods outlined on the home page to receive feedback.