KPMG apologises to whistleblower ahead of inquiry into ethical failures
Australian audit firm KPMG has apologised to the employee who exposed its confidential leaks scandal, as a Labor-led parliamentary committee pushes the government to strengthen whistleblower protection laws.
KPMG has reached out to apologise to the former employee who, in May 2024, sent an email raising concerns about internal leaks of confidential information within the firm. The apology comes just ahead of a parliamentary inquiry examining the audit giant's ethical failures.
In a letter released by the inquiry committee, KPMG's new chair, Mike Ebeid, made a series of admissions. He said the firm still does not believe the whistleblower's email was covered by Australia's whistleblower protection laws, but that KPMG had nonetheless treated the matter as an official whistleblower complaint and would not contest the issue if a legal case were brought against it.
Ebeid also admitted that KPMG had not asked its lawyers to investigate every aspect of the whistleblower's allegations, meaning some of the ethical concerns now under scrutiny were never examined at the time. He further disclosed that in April 2026 the firm wrongly claimed allegations of internal leaks were "not substantiated", despite investigations completed by December 2025 having already found that confidential information was being shared.
Pressure on the government
The parliamentary committee investigating the scandal, which includes five Labor MPs, wrote to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on 9 July urging him to urgently reform whistleblower protection laws. On Thursday, the committee published a 30 July reply from Albanese's assistant minister, Patrick Gorman, confirming that Treasury is currently reviewing tax and corporate whistleblower legislation.
The committee also released its own submission to that Treasury review, arguing that Australian law fails to protect whistleblowers and is largely ineffective at deterring misconduct. It said these shortcomings are longstanding and well documented, as illustrated by the KPMG whistleblower's experience. The committee noted it has made dozens of unanimous recommendations over the past decade, many of which the government has still not implemented.
