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Whistleblower Richard Boyle enters plea deal

by Rex Patrick | Dec 16, 2024 | Government, Latest Posts

Tax Office whistleblower, Richard Boyle, stripped of his defence by broken whistleblower laws, has entered plea deal with prosecutors to avoid a trial. Rex Patrick reports from the South Australian District Court.

Richard Boyle’s barristers have advised Judge Kudelka of the South Australian District Court that they are in negotiations with the Commonwealth Government to end his prosecution through a plea in exchange for, hopefully, a non-conviction.

Richard is a Whistleblower.

In June this year, Justice Lovell, with justices Doyle and David of the SA Court of Appeal agreeing, declared:

“The [ATO] accepts that the appellant is a whistle-blower as that term is commonly understood. [Richard] disclosed information to an authorised person pursuant to the terms of the Public Interest Disclosure Act. It was common ground on appeal that [Richard’s] conduct in disclosing the information attracted an immunity from criminal prosecution under the Act. [Richard], however, faces criminal charges, not for the disclosure of information he believed needed to be disclosed, but for his conduct in unlawfully gathering evidence he considered would support his disclosure …”

They went on to explain that Richard Boyle formally blew the whistle.

“It was common ground that [Richard], on 12 October 2017, lodged a public interest disclosure with the ATO and that it complied with the requirements of the Act. Information contained within the [disclosure] attracted the immunity.”

The Justices then confirmed the Australian Tax Office botched the processing of Richard’s disclosure.

“[Richard’s disclosure] was allocated to an authorised recipient for investigation pursuant to s 43 of the Act. His [disclosure] was not dealt with appropriately. By letter emailed to [Richard] on 27 October 2017, the authorised recipient advised that he had discontinued the investigation pursuant to s 48(1)(c) of the Act, having determined that the disclosure did not concern serious disclosable conduct. It is accepted for the purposes of this litigation that this decision was incorrect.”

Finally, they vindicated him:

“On 9 April 2018, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (“ABC”) presented a story called ‘Mongrel bunch of bastards’ as a Four Corners program. It featured taxpayers talking about their adverse experiences with the ATO. [Richard] appeared as a whistle-blower.”

[SUPPRESSED]

“In March 2019, the Inspector-General of Taxation and Taxation Ombudsman released a ‘Review into the Australian Taxation Office’s use of Garnishee Notices’. The review was commenced “to maintain community confidence in the administration of the tax system after serious allegations were made about the [ATO’s] inappropriate use of garnishee notices on small businesses” by a current and former ATO officer on the ABC Four Corners program on 9 April 2018.”

But he was left without any protection as the Court of Appeal confirmed what everyone knew; Australia’s Commonwealth public sector whistleblower protection laws are broken.

https://michaelwest.com.au/the-making-of-a-criminal-from-a-whistleblower/ 

The Truth, The Whole Truth and Nothing But The Truth

Richard has never attempted to deny the actions that he took, rather to explain why he took them. It’s not that he’s now changing his story, just that his legal team recognises he has no legal defence.

Richard has reached the end of a very long road.

Despite him blowing the whistle on the egregious use of power by the Tax Office with an understanding that he was protected, he wasn’t. He’s been caught out by inadequate laws that purported to shield him, but instead lured him into a situation where he and his family has suffered for seven years.

A Failure to Act

Despite knowing that our whistleblower protection laws are broken, Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus let the prosecution of Richard continue.

At any time, Mr Dreyfus could have exercised his powers under the Judiciary Act to end the proceedings. The Attorney-General is given those powers by the Parliament, to whom he owes a duty to make sure unfair prosecutions do not occur.

In what will be a sad legacy for Mr Dreyfus, he failed to intervene. He knew the law was broken yet he let Richard be prosecuted under them.

Plea Deal

We’ll have to wait to see the outcome of the plea deal. Surely the Commonwealth will see that Richard acted only with the public interest in mind, as the Court of Appeal recognised.

A non-conviction would be best, with a non-custodial sentence the lesser preferred option. 

If he’s placed on a good behaviour bond, one might hope he can back date it – because all he has ever done is behaved in a manner we might hope others would in the same circumstances.

Richard is no criminal, rather a hero.


Editor: story to be updated as developments arise

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Rex Patrick

Rex Patrick is a former Senator for South Australia and earlier a submariner in the armed forces. Best known as an anti-corruption and transparency crusader, Rex is running for the Senate on the Lambie Network ticket next year - www.transparencywarrior.com.au.

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