The Human Rights Law Centre has called on the Albanese Government to urgently reform whistleblower protection laws and ensure whistleblowers are not imprisoned, after the High Court of Australia declined to hear tax office whistleblower Richard Boyle’s appeal.

Boyle will now face trial – and potential jail time – after blowing the whistle on unethical debt recovery practices at the Australian Taxation Office. He blew the whistle internally, and then to oversight bodies, before ultimately going public with his concerns to investigative journalist Adele Ferguson AM.

His whistleblowing sparked several independent inquiries which vindicated allegations of wrongdoing within the tax office’s debt recovery team. But Boyle faces prosecution – not for his public whistleblowing, but for his actions gathering evidence prior to raising concerns internally.

In June, the Court of Appeal of South Australia ruled that Boyle’s preparatory conduct was outside the scope of the immunity for whistleblowers in the Public Interest Disclosure Act. It upheld an earlier District Court ruling.

Boyle was first charged in January 2019. Following the High Court’s decision to deny special leave to appeal, Boyle returns to the District Court on Monday, when a trial date is expected to be set.

Kieran Pender, Acting Legal Director at the Human Rights Law Centre, said:

“This is a heartbreaking day for Richard Boyle. His case underscores the major holes in Australia’s whistleblowing regime. The Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus must ensure Richard Boyle does not go to jail for exposing wrongdoing at the tax office and urgently fix federal whistleblower protections. Whistleblowers make Australia a better place – they should be protected, not prosecuted.”

“The Albanese Government was elected on a commitment to restore integrity and transparency in Australian public life. The government promised to reform the federal public sector whistleblowing law. But with the next election in sight, these reforms remain undelivered, the government has still not committed to establishing a whistleblower protection authority, and yet another whistleblower is facing potential jail time.”

Background

The Human Rights Law Centre, which operates Australia’s first dedicated legal service for whistleblowers, the Whistleblower Project, participated in the Court of Appeal as amicus curiae (friend of the court).

Boyle’s case has come alongside other high-profile whistleblower prosecutions, including Afghan Files whistleblower David McBride, who was recently sentenced to almost six years’ imprisonment, and Timor-Leste whistleblowers Bernard Collaery and Witness K.

Image Credit: Ben Searcy

Media contact:
Thomas Feng
Engagement Director
0431 285 275
thomas.feng@hrlc.org.au