Protesters have gathered outside South Australia's Supreme Court in support of Australian Taxation Office (ATO) whistleblower Richard Boyle, who is continuing his legal fight to avoid prosecution.
Key points:
- Richard Boyle lost his legal bid to be declared immune from prosecution as a whistleblower
- He is appealing that decision in South Australia's Supreme Court
- Protesters gathered outside the court to express support for Mr Boyle
The former public servant lost his legal bid in March to be declared immune from prosecution, under the Public Interest Disclosure Act, as a whistleblower.
Mr Boyle is accused of 24 offences, including recording and disclosing protected information, which stem from his decision to collect information about unethical debt-recovery practices within the 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 public as part of a joint Fairfax-Four Corners investigation.
His appeal against the March ruling began in the Supreme Court this morning, with the Human Rights Law Centre being granted leave to speak at today's hearing.
Outside court, the centre's senior lawyer Kieran Pender said he would be putting to the court that Australia's whistleblower laws needed to be interpreted in a way that protected and empowered whistleblowers.
"The trial judgement in this case found that whistleblowing laws only provided narrow protection to Richard Boyle — [they] only protected the act of disclosure, not his conduct in preparing to speak up internally," Mr Pender said.
"That will have major impact for all Australian whistleblowers."
Mr Pender said today's appeal was a potentially landmark moment for transparency in Australia, with the strength of those protections being put to the test.
"Australian whistleblowing laws are broken, and are clearly in need of an overhaul," he said.
'We must protect our whistleblowers'
Speaking at the rally in support of Mr Boyle, Amnesty International SA/NT vice president Jodie Sard said the whistleblower exposed information that was in the public interest.
"Richard Boyle worked for the ATO for some 13 years. He utilised the right channels," Ms Sard said.
"The ATO even conducted a superficial investigation into his concerns, and found he was correct in his assessment, and they made appropriate changes. Yet they're still persecuting Richard Boyle.
"We the people are done turning a blind eye and waiting for the system to fix itself … [and] we must protect our whistleblowers."
During the hearing, Mr Boyle's lawyer Steven Milsteed KC told the Supreme Court that the judge who ruled on Mr Boyle's immunity in March took a narrow view of the legislation.
"It provides that, in effect, any person who gives information, documents and answers to investigators … isn't [protected] from civil liability," Mr Milsteed said.
If Mr Boyle is not successful in his appeal, he could face trial and the prospect of life in prison.