Richard Boyle's public interest disclosure (PID) defence hearing will take place at Adelaide District Court on Tuesday 26 July.
The former ATO officer will be arguing that his having blown the whistle on dodgy tax collection practices was protected under federal law.
Boyle followed the steps a public service whistleblower must take, under the Public Interest Disclosure Act 2013 (Cth) (the PID Act), when revealing corruption. This saw him initially make an internal disclosure, followed by another to the tax ombudsman and finally, he went to the press.
The case against Boyle is one of three controversial whistleblower prosecutions commenced under Liberal attorney general Christian Porter that Labor AG Mark Dreyfus inherited. But, unlike that of ACT barrister Bernard Collaery, the current chief lawmaker has refused to drop Boyle's case.
In response to his raising corruption allegations, which several inquiries have since vindicated, the Commonwealth Department of Public Prosecutions first slapped Boyle with 66 charges carrying 161 years. However, further developments have since seen this dropped to 24 counts.
But it's hard to see how Boyle will receive a fair defence hearing under the provisions of the PID Act, when those laws, which have failed him so far, have already been slated for reform by the new attorney general, who admits the laws that he drafted nine years ago, need strengthening.
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