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 March, 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...

Read Full Story: https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMiZ0FVX3lxTE1wUzFFOUZfUU5sNVAyTVNldmEt...