Bullies and no protection at corporate regulator ASIC, James Shipton tells Senate inquiry

James Shipton says he wanted to end his life amid a lack of help from the regulator and the government when dealing with internal and external bullying.

Former ASIC chairman James Shipton at his home in Melbourne. Picture: Aaron Francis

The former chair of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, James Shipton, said he struggled with the lack of help he received from the regulator and the government when dealing with internal and external bullying.

Mr Shipton told the Senate Economics References Committee that months of full-page advertisements against him, in addition to bullying by someone within ASIC, had taken a heavy toll and for which he received no support. He did not name names but previous hearings have revealed internal allegations against deputy chair Karen Chester and the full page ads were taken out by billionaire Clive Palmer.

“I wanted to end my life,” Mr Shipton said. “The system failed me … it was soul destroying for me, my family and my friends. They were relentless; they cut me to my core.”

In emotionally charged evidence, the former head of the corporate regulator called for significant “structural reform” at ASIC and called out the lack of governance within the very place that is supposed to ensure the governance of Australian companies.

ASIC deputy chair Karen Chester. Picture Gary Ramage

“No one is immune from being a victim of unacceptable workplace behaviour,” Mr Shipton said. “I was the chair of ASIC, a law enforcement agency. That offered no protection … ASIC and the (then) government walked past what was happening to me and others. This must never happen again.”

Mr Shipton was giving evidence into the capacity and capability of ASIC to investigate potential corporate crimes and enforce actions against those found to have breached the laws.

The former boss of the regulator recommended a number of changes, including better clarity in the way ASIC commissioners were employed and how they can be removed, increased clarity from the government as to what it expects ASIC to focus on, as well a move to make the actions of staff conducting investigations to become “outcome, not output based”.

Businessman and former politician Clive Palmer. Picture: Dan Peled

The Senate hearing was told that commissioners did not have employment contracts. “Unlike ordinary employees who, by virtue of their employment contracts, can be terminated for a code of conduct breach, commissioners can only be terminated by the Governor-General for statutory ‘misbehaviour’,” said Mr Shipton in a written submission before the hearings began.

“This ‘misbehaviour’ needs to be extremely serious, such as a criminal, or near criminal, act.”

Ms Chester faced a bullying investigation in 2021. Treasurer Jim Chalmers blocked the release of the findings against her, but parliamentary sources at the time said a number of findings about the deputy commissioner’s conduct had been substantiated but she could not be removed except by order of the Governor-General.

When asked about the bullying in an earlier Senate hearing, the current chair of ASIC, Joe Longo, had added salt to the wound by victim blaming, Mr Shipton said.

“To suggest publicly that I contributed to the behaviour in question or that I failed to respond appropriately … suggest the subject of the conduct was somehow to blame,” he said.

As for the advertising by Clive Palmer, which Mr Shipton said he asked ASIC to try to stop, Mr Shipton described it as “intimidatory advertising attacking my character, competence, and integrity … published by a defendant charged with offences instigated by ASIC during my time”.

ASIC responded to Mr Shipton’s claims by saying it “takes seriously the wellbeing of all its staff” and that it “does not accept that parliament was misled on this matter”.

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