Lesson From The Tax Court: The Whistleblower Who Blew Too Hard
Former public servant Richard Boyle has lost his legal bid to be declared immune from prosecution as a whistleblower, meaning he could face the prospect of life in prison.
Mr Boyle, 46, is accused of 24 offences — including recording and disclosing protected information — stemming from his decision to collect information about unethical debt-recovery practices within the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).
He had worked as a debt collection officer at the ATO's Adelaide office and accused his former employer of covering up serious maladministration and lying to Senate Estimates about his accusations.
Mr Boyle first made a public interest disclosure within the ATO, internally, and then made a complaint to the tax ombudsman before he made his revelations as a part of a joint Fairfax-Four Corners investigation.
Follow-up reviews confirmed that Mr Boyle's revelations of aggressive debt-recovery practices at the ATO at the time were valid, with the small business ombudsman saying the agency's then treatment of small businesses was "crippling".
A Senate report later found that the ATO did a "superficial" investigation into Mr Boyle's public interest disclosure about the ATO misusing its powers against small businesses.
The Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (CDPP) had reduced the charges against Mr Boyle from 66 to 24.
The Judge dismissed Mr Boyle's application on the 23 charges that he applied for immunity on.
The reasons for Liesl Kudelka's decision were put under an interim suppression order on the request of the Commonwealth.
