Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus has ruled out dropping charges against former ATO public-servant-turned-whistleblower Richard Boyle, who is set to face trial later this month.

Earlier this month, Mr Dreyfus ordered the Commonwealth to drop the prosecution of lawyer Bernard Collaery, four years after he was charged with conspiring to release classified information about an alleged spying operation in East Timor.

Following that decision, the Human Rights Law Centre and others are calling on the Attorney-General to similarly intervene in the case of two other whistleblowers who are facing trial.

They include Mr Boyle — who spoke up about unethical debt-recovery practices at the Australian Taxation Office — and David McBride, who blew the whistle on alleged war crimes by Australian soldiers in Afghanistan.

Former independent senator Rex Patrick has written to Mr Dreyfus about Mr Boyle's case, urging him to intervene and take the extraordinary step of dropping all charges.

The Attorney-General has powers under section 71 of the Judiciary Act to stop the prosecution.

However, last month Mr Dreyfus responded in a letter to Senator Patrick saying: "The Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (CDPP) takes decisions about the commencement of prosecutions independently of government."

He said the Attorney-General's powers under section 71 were "reserved for very unusual and exceptional circumstances".

However, Mr Dreyfus did note that the government was "committed to reforming...

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