National whistleblower advisory group

TI Australia’s National Whistleblower Advisory Group is comprised of experienced whistleblowers from various sectors. This group offers lived experience and expertise to guide TI Australia’s work for stronger whistleblower protections. The group provide advice on what works for whistleblowers and informs our advocacy for stronger whistleblower protections for workers in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors. Drawing on their lived experience, they also, advocate for necessary changes to our legal system and educate the and the public, MPs, and media on what needs to change.

Although they have very difference experiences and outcomes from speaking up, they are united in their commitment to fostering a safer and more just environment for future whistleblowers.

Dennis Gentilin

Early in his career, Dennis Gentilin was publicly named as a whistleblower in an incident that resulted in significant financial and reputational costs to one of Australia’s largest financial institutions. Fortunately for him, the experience did not derail his career. Rather, he went on to spend a further 12 years working for the institution in which the incident occurred and since then has worked in the professional services and superannuation industries. The experience was the catalyst for Dennis developing a strong interest in human behaviour and corporate governance, which led him to authoring an award-winning book and becoming a respected contributor to discussions on leadership, ethics, conduct and culture.

Toni Hoffman

Toni Hoffman AM is the nurse who spoke up about the incompetence of the surgeon Jayant Patel at Bundaberg Hospital. With over 30 years of nursing experience, Hoffman recognised the alarming patterns in Patel’s practices and repeatedly raised her concerns to hospital management. Patel was finally stopped when Toni went to journalist Hedley Thomas who found Patel had been ordered to give up his medical licence in the US because of gross negligence.

Her unwavering commitment led to the Royal Commission into Queensland Health and wide reaching changes in hospital practices.

Sharon Kelsey

Sharon Kelsey has had a long public service career including as a police officer, lawyer, anti-corruption commission executive, and over 15 years leading local government and public sector organisations. She won an international scholarship to complete a Master of Laws in Germany. In 2017, as CEO of Queensland’s Logan City Council, she blew the whistle on misconduct by the Council’s Mayor. Her employment was shortly thereafter terminated. In March 2023, the former Mayor was convicted of accepting a secret commission from a developer, misconduct in public office and failing to update his register of interest.

Frank O'Toole

Frank O’Toole was a partner in the Forensic practice of a global professional services firm for just on 20 years, specialising in crisis response, investigations, and conduct risk management.

Frank has over 35 years’ investigation experience encompassing the broad ambit of misconduct. He has two government awards for his contribution to fraud and corruption investigations and police integrity.

Frank’s role in our Advisory Committee comes from his time in law enforcement. During an investigation into a major drug importation being undertaken by an established east coast organised crime syndicate, he witnessed conduct by a senior member that caused serious concern in terms of potential corrupt activity which had the potential to compromise the investigation. Frank reported those concerns to the AFP’s internal investigations team and an investigation and subsequent criminal prosecution resulted.

Kim Lenox

Kim Lenox is a highly qualified executive and non executive director with experience developing and implementing strategy, building investment pipelines, infrastructure operations and maintenance, asset management, and project delivery.

Kim has worked closely with organisations navigating complex integrity, governance and workplace culture challenges, with a particular focus on leadership accountability, psychological safety, respectful workplaces and systemic change. Her work is grounded in the belief that organisations perform best when transparency, trust and accountability are embedded into everyday leadership and decision making.

As a member of Transparency International Australia's National Whistleblower Advisory Group, Kim brings practical experience in organisational systems, leadership behaviour and culture change. She is committed to supporting stronger protections for whistleblowers and helping create workplaces where speaking up is recognised as an essential part of good governance, public trust and organisational integrity.

Dr Benjamin Koh MBBS MMed MPsy PhD LLB (Hons I) is a Clinical Associate in the School of Psychology and a Fellow of the Faculty of Business at the University of Technology Sydney, and a Secondee Lawyer at the Human Rights Law Centre.

He is the former Chief Medical Officer of CommInsure, the life insurance arm of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. Between 2013 and 2015, Dr Koh made internal disclosures, escalating to the CBA Board, about the insurer's use of outdated medical definitions to decline claims; his employment was subsequently terminated. His disclosures contributed to the 2017 Parliamentary Joint Committee Inquiry into the Life Insurance Industry, and were later vindicated at the Hayne Royal Commission and, in 2023, by the Federal Court in ASIC v MLC Limited.

Dr Koh has since retrained as a lawyer, admitted to practise in the Supreme Court of New South Wales and the High Court of Australia. He now works at the intersection of clinical medicine, whistleblowing and law, contributing submissions to parliamentary and Treasury inquiries and assisting the Human Rights Law Centre's whistleblower Project. He brings both lived experience as a whistleblower and legal training to Transparency International Australia's National Whistleblower Advisory Group.