The government’s persecution of whistleblowers Richard Boyle and David McBride is unjust, and the public doesn’t support it. It’s time for much-needed reform.
Australian Tax Office whistleblower Richard Boyle accepted a guilty plea last week, ending an almost decade-long and gruelling legal ordeal. In 2017, Boyle spoke up about unethical debt recovery practices at the tax office, internally, then to an oversight body, and ultimately to Four Corners. Several subsequent independent inquiries in part vindicated his actions.
While federal whistleblower protection laws likely protected Boyle’s whistleblowing to the media, he was instead prosecuted for steps he took to prepare to leak information, such as taking photos of some tax documents and recording some conversations with colleagues. Last year, the South Australian Court of Appeal ruled that whistleblowing immunity did not protect this prior conduct.
The court loss left Boyle facing trial in November this year. On Tuesday, Boyle told the court in Adelaide that he would plead guilty to four charges, one for each category of offending, as part of a plea deal that means the prosecution will not seek a custodial sentence.
It has been a harrowing process for the former debt collection officer, all for doing what he thought was the right thing: raising concerns about government wrongdoing. In the circumstances, the guilty plea seems the best of a bad situation — a way to avoid going to jail.
But the deal also underscores the...
The Missouri State Highway Patrol’s Rural Crimes Investigative Unit (RCIU) and the Livestock and Farm Protection Task Force are aware of the false statement made last week regarding New World Scre...