The clubs lobby has demanded pokies whistleblower Troy Stolz stop crowdfunding to finance his court case and return donations already received or face further court action.
Stolz says he has been financially ruined by a federal court battle between him and his former employer, ClubsNSW, relating to a series of disclosures he made about the sector’s alleged widespread failure to comply with money laundering and terror financing laws.
To fund his case, Stolz turned to popular fundraising site GoFundMe and has so far raised $3,395.
But Stolz recently received a legal letter from Thomson Geer, acting on behalf of ClubsNSW, demanding that he “immediately take down the campaign page and return all funds donated to date to the relevant donors”.
The firm complained of “misleading” and “blatantly incorrect” comments on the GoFundMe page about the quantum of legal costs awarded against Stolz and the nature of documents he had been ordered to hand over to ClubsNSW.
Stolz was warned to remove the page by Monday of this week or ClubsNSW “would raise our concerns directly with GoFundMe and the court”.
“In light of its misleading contents, it is unconscionable for Mr Stolz to maintain the Campaign Page in order to solicit funds from the general public,” the letter said.
Stolz told the Guardian the threat regarding his GoFundMe page showed “the extreme lengths that ClubsNSW will go to, to punish a whistleblower”.
“Not only are they suing me in the federal court, they have also previously demanded that I put $150,000 aside from the sale of my house to pay their legal costs and now they want to deprive my supporters of the opportunity to help me through the GoFundMe page,” he said.
ClubsNSW was contacted for comment but did not respond. It was unclear whether they had taken the matter to the court or directly to GoFundMe.
Elsewhere, the case has provoked a strong reaction in federal parliament.
In recent orders, the court told Stolz he must hand over a series of communications he had with the independent MP Andrew Wilkie. The correspondence occurred prior to Wilkie unsuccessfully attempting to table a document in parliament that allegedly showed just 5-10% of NSW clubs complied with money laundering and terror financing laws.
Parliamentary privilege protects correspondence between constituents and MPs in some cases and Wilkie has referred the matter to the powerful privileges committee for consideration.
In a speech to parliament last week, Wilkie said he was “deeply worried about the chilling effect that this decision potentially will have” on whistleblowers who want to raise concerns with elected representatives.
“If everyday Australians cannot speak with parliamentarians, safe in the knowledge that their communication and correspondence are protected by parliamentary privilege, many will choose not to speak at all,” he said.
The federal court did not make any finding about whether parliamentary privilege applied. Stolz initially raised privilege in an attempt to fight the order but abandoned the argument later in proceedings.
There are multiple overlapping cases involving Stolz and his former employer. Stolz has sued for wrongful dismissal, while ClubsNSW has alleged he breached his confidentiality obligations by making the disclosures.
The Human Rights Law Centre said the significant personal and financial costs faced by whistleblowers showed the need for reform.
“Courage should not be so costly,” senior lawyer Kieran Pender said.
“Our federal government must urgently reform whistleblowing law to protect people who speak up about wrongdoing.”