ATO whistleblower Richard Boyle faces trial after immunity defence fails
None of this helps Boyle, who hit the headlines in April 2018 when he turned whistleblower in a joint media investigation with The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and ABC’s Four Corners, which revealed that his area of the ATO in Adelaide had been instructed to use more heavy-handed debt collection tactics on taxpayers who owed the ATO money.
Months before going public, he followed protocol and did a public interest disclosure to the ATO. It was investigated by the ATO and rejected. He then went to the ATO watchdog, the Inspector-General for Taxation.
In 2018, I was working on an investigation into the ATO for The SMH, The Age and ABC’s Four Corners. Boyle came forward because he was worried about what was going on in the Adelaide unit with small businesses and garnishees.
A garnishee is a tool that allows the ATO to seize funds from the bank accounts of taxpayers who had been assessed to owe the ATO money, sometimes without their knowledge.
Boyle’s testimony and evidence included an email sent out by an ATO team leader in May 2017 to a dozen workers in the Adelaide office saying, “the last hour of power is upon us ... that means you still have time to issue another five garnishees … right?”
During that period, there was spike in the number of garnishees issued in Adelaide.
I couldn’t sleep, and my health spiralled into what I describe as a devastating situation.
— ATO whistleblower Richard Boyle
Emails and calls flooded in, and it sparked several investigations that resulted in both sides of politics announcing policies to improve the lot of small businesses when they are dealing with the Tax Office.
Against this backdrop, Boyle was charged in January 2019 with 66 charges, including telephone tapping and recording of conversations without the consent of all parties, and making a record of protected information, in some cases passing that information to a third party.
Boyle had no personal gain speaking up. He always maintained he was doing it because he believed it was the right thing.
Boyle vindicated
Two months after charges were laid, the inspector-general released a report that vindicated Boyle, finding that “problems did arise in certain localised situations for a limited period, particularly so at Adelaide’s local ATO site”.
Then in April 2019, the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman found the ATO’s use of garnishee notices was “excessive”.
A Senate inquiry was launched into the ATO’s investigation into Boyle’s disclosure to examine why the ATO had dismissed his claims. It found the investigation to be “superficial”.
Former senator Rex Patrick, who was on the Senate committee, says he would have preferred the word “botched”, and says the findings of the committee should have been enough for the attorney-general to stop the prosecution.
In June 2019, Boyle broke his silence and did an interview with me, where he explained the stress he was under living with the charges, the financial challenges of not working and his battle with depression.
“I’ve had some dark moments. It’s taken a huge toll on my mental health. I couldn’t work. I couldn’t sleep, and my health spiralled into what I describe as a devastating situation.”
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This is yet another leftover from the time of the LCP domination of Federal Politics between 2013-2022.
It coincides with the period we also know as ROBO DEBT which was put in place by the same Government and pursued with lethal cost against thousands of innocent Australians, some of whom were so overwhelmed that they took their own lives.
In the same period Bernard Collaery and "Witness K" were pursued relentlessly by the same Government... the total cost to the taxpayers of Australia:
"legal bill for the Collaery and Witness K cases on 7 July, the date on which the Collaery prosecution ended, was $5.148m."
What a price we pay for the misdeeds of our politicians.
While all those people hounded for Robo Debt suffered and even took their own lives as a result of the injustice wrought upon them, some of the politicians who set it in place still sit in Parliament on good salaries or have retired on phenomenal superannuation packages.
I could paste in a few mug shots here but I simply can't bear to see their faces.
You all know who they are.
pt
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