The V/Line Speak Up Service is an independent and confidential service available to receive information relating to improper conduct, unlawful or unethical behaviour and supports V/Line’s values and Code of Conduct.

Any breaches of safety, the Code of Conduct, related policies, and issues that may adversely affect V/Line. This may include any criminal offence, breach of legal obligation, unsafe behaviour, harassment or bullying, and fraud or corruption.

Any individual person can make a public interest disclosure about improper action engaged in, or detrimental action taken by, V/Line or one of its employees. This includes employees and members of the public.

V/Line is not able to receive a public interest disclosure under the Act. To make a public interest disclosure about V/Line or any V/Line employee, you must make the disclosure directly to the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC) as follows:

In person: IBAC Victoria, Level 1, North Tower, 459 Collins St, Melbourne VIC 3000
By mail: IBAC Victoria, GPO Box 24234, Melbourne, VIC 3001
By phone: 1300 735 135
Online at: www.ibac.vic.gov.au

If you are deaf or have a hearing or speech impairment, you can contact IBAC through the National Relay Service (NRS) – go to www.ibac.vic.gov.au for details.

You may make a disclosure anonymously. However, you should bear in mind that it may be more difficult for IBAC to investigate and substantiate disclosures that are made anonymously.

For more information and guidance on making a public interest disclosure, including the IBAC complaint form, go to IBAC’s website at: www.ibac.vic.gov.au.

V/Line believes that all employees and other stakeholders should be able to assist in ensuring V/Line maintains its status as an ethical business. V/Line is adopting best practice in this aspect of corporate governance and will be compliant with international and Australian corporate governance standards.

V/Line has engaged an independent external vendor to manage the receipt, recording and reporting of serious misconduct. Stopline is an independent, confidential, and impartial conduit for information that enables the reporting of corrupt or improper conduct. Stopline has people experienced in handling sensitive information from stakeholders.

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. You can make an anonymous disclosure to Stopline if you wish and the staff of Stopline will not ask for any personal details. If you do not wish to remain anonymous, this information may be provided to the Whistleblower Protection Officer at V/Line. If you choose to remain anonymous Stopline will issue a confidential reference and password should so that you can track the status of your disclosure at a later date. Some legislation (e.g. Corporations Act in Australia) will only provide legislative protection if the caller identifies themselves. Stopline can assist at the time of your contact.

V/Line is committed to protecting genuine Whistleblowers against detrimental action taken in reprisal for making a public interest disclosure. Maintaining confidentiality is a crucial component of this protection, therefore ALL disclosures will be treated confidentiality. V/Line has appointed Stopline to provide a pathway for V/Line employees to make confidential and anonymous disclosures in line with V/Line procedures and Whistleblower legislation

Stopline acts as an independent and unbiased third party and will appropriately triage and forward your disclosure to V/Line’s Whistleblower Protection Officer. Stopline enables employees, contractors and stakeholders to report suspected misconduct via telephone, email, internet, facsimile or mail, to an independent organisation with trained staff who will receive your concerns confidentially and if required, anonymously. The Speak Up Service is crucial to providing a safe workplace and is an effective means of countering improper workplace behaviour.

The General Manager, Integrity is responsible for ensuring that all serious complaints and disclosures are handled appropriately and is V/Line’s Whistleblower Protection Officer. The Whistleblower Protection Officer’s responsibility includes managing disclosures and being the contact point for both Stopline and V/Line’s CEO.

You can contact Stopline when you have knowledge of any unsafe, environmentally harmful, fraudulent, corrupt, unlawful or unethical conduct be carried out by a V/Line employee and/or contractor.

You can telephone the 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 make a disclosure via the internet (this website), email or mail.

The strength of Stopline is that all allegations will be professionally triaged by trained Stopline staff. Stopline focuses on the message, not the messenger. The Whistleblower Protection Officer may decline to investigate the matter if satisfied that the disclosure is trivial, frivolous, or vexatious.

Yes. Where appropriate to do so, you can be provided with the status of the disclosure, decisions made regarding how the matter is to be handled, timeframes that apply and the result of any investigation and action taken. 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 above to receive feedback.

Full details are available on V/Line’s intranet site by clicking here.