Colin KrugerUpdated June 19, 2026 — 11:03am,first published June 19, 2026 — 8:21amWatch live as KPMG, its lawyers, clients, regulators and associates face a grillingBy Colin KrugerWelcome to our live blog of the parliamentary joint committee public hearing into the KPMG whistleblower scandal in Canberra.Latest Posts11.03amWhen did the KPMG boss know? By Colin KrugerO’Neill: “When did you receive this (whistleblower complaint)?“Former KPMG boss Yates: “I cannot recollect that, Senator. What I recall of that period of time, to the best of my recollection, which is May and June 2024.” Former KPMG chief executive Andrew Yates.Getty Images10.59amKPMG exec went to its lawyers and HR with whistleblower claims By Colin KrugerLabor’s Deb O’Neill has questioned Julian McPherson from KPMG about his decision to go to human resources when the whistleblower raised their allegations.McPherson: “I spoke to our office representatives of Office of General Counsel and … HR division, because I recognised that there were serious allegations raised.”O’Neill: “So, the first thing you’re telling me, correct me if I’m wrong, the first thing you did was you went to the lawyers who manage KPMG?“McPherson: “The first thing I did was speak to our HR team, and then the lawyers … Just for clarification at KPMG, we call HR ‘people and inclusion’.”O’Neill: “I’m sure that’s very comforting to the whistleblower.”10.55amKPMG’s expresses ‘surprise and shock’ at whistleblower claimsBy Colin KrugerThe committee is exploring how KPMG executives reacted to the whistleblower’s complaints.Labor’s Deb O’Neill: “You must have had a visceral response to that when you received it, Mr. McPherson? Can you recall the 30th of May 2024?”KPMG’s Julian McPherson, a former managing partner of audit and assurance: “I don’t recollect my exact feelings, but I’m sure I would have felt what the surprise and shock at receiving and reading that paragraph.” 10.51amDamning whistleblower testimony is read out by KPMG executiveBy Colin KrugerAs penance, O’Neill has asked former KPMG audit boss Julian McPherson to read out some of the whistleblower’s testimony.McPherson reads: “I have seen a number of actions taken by individuals that are quite clearly not up to the ethical standards of KPMG or the expectations of regulators, governments or the public at large. These are not isolated incidents, but instead endemic within the organisation, whereby profit and revenue growth is placed above everything else, including integrity, people, worldly wellbeing and fundamentally doing the right thing.”10.40amEx KPMG boss denies money trumped ethics By Colin KrugerGreens senator Barbara Pocock queries former KPMG boss Andrew Yates as to whether the pursuit of revenue trumped ethics: “I’m asking whether ethics were trumped at the first hurdle in pursuit of revenue?”Yates: “I don’t believe that is the way the firm operated, Senator.”Former KPMG chief executive Andrew Yates before the committee on Friday.Getty Images10.39amDid Yates know of whistleblower allegations before previous Senate appearances?By Colin KrugerFormer KPMG boss Andrew Yates is asked by Pocock: “Did you have knowledge of allegations by whistleblowers within KPMG of unethical behaviour when you appeared before the Senate?”Yates: “Senator, I genuinely can’t recall what I was aware of, given I appeared in the middle of 2023, and I think last time was February 2024 ... I was aware of course in general of issues that we were dealing with, I cannot remember those specifics.”10.36amIs the partnership structure ‘done’? By Colin KrugerPocock is asking questions about the partnership structure used by big accounting firms. Partnerships are not covered by whistleblower protection laws in the same way that big corporations are.“Is the partnership structure now non-functioning in this circumstance?” she asks.Yates: “I think where I’m struggling to answer that question is, I don’t know the mechanism by which it can be done to move from a partnership to a corporate.”10.28amYates: ‘We’re fallible’ By Colin KrugerAfter an opening statement from KPMG’s former chief executive Andrew Yates, where he concedes the firm “didn’t get it right”, Labor’s Deb O’Neill asks Yates about whether the firm is full of “bad apples”.“Are you the bad apples, or is the whole barrel rotten?” O’Neill asks.Yates: “Oh, I don’t see myself as a bad apple, Senator. I see someone has to [have] accountability for things that went wrong, and nor do I see the firm to be full of bad apples. We’re a large, complex organisation, and we’re fallible.”10.26amKPMG boss: Conducting themselves in the right wayBy Colin KrugerFormer KPMG boss Andrew Yates, who recently resigned as chief executive over the whistleblower scandal, is facing questions from the committee about the scandal.He delivered an opening statement saying the firm did not “get it right” in how it handled the issue, but adds: “I felt at every point in time my team were conducting themselves in the right way.”10.07amWhistleblower approached CA ANZ in 2023By Colin KrugerLabor’s O’Neill asks CA ANZ when it was first approached by the KPMG whistleblower: “In July 2023, that was the first approach by the whistleblower, who then approached you again in November 23, and again in March of 2025?”Chapman: “I was corresponding with that person in 2023. The initial contact was to request some information about making a complaint under the bylaws on an anonymous or pseudonymous basis, and I explained that our bylaws don’t allow for formal complaints to be initiated on an anonymous basis, and that’s because a complainant has rights under our bylaws to see copies of all of the documents that a member might provide.”1 of 4