Tax office vigilantes are off the hook again. What’s the scam? By Rex Patrick (SA, Aus)
- Kim Leighton
- 2 hours ago
- 2 min read
ATO whistleblower Richard Boyle avoided a conviction, but let’s not forget why he blew the whistle in the first place.
The scam is how both the Tax Office official who engaged in overly vigilant tax collection, and their bosses, who allowed it, are not held accountable.
In court, Judge Liesl Kudelka was very thorough in explaining all the factors she considered in determining that Richard Boyle should not be convicted of any crimes.
Before a packed gallery, she walked through the circumstances of his case, naming the offences committed and describing the circumstance of them, setting out Richard’s mental state and motive at the time, discussing her findings that his actions were “morally driven”, detailing that he had no prior convictions, explaining that little harm was caused, that Richard has shown remorse and that he had suffered greatly for his actions.
One of the factors Her Honour considered in her deliberations was the need to avoid “vigilante justice” being dished out by ordinary citizens.
For eight years, Richard has suffered, financially and mentally, as he fought to avoid a jail term for blowing the whistle. Meanwhile, inside the Tax Office, officials responsible for their own vigilante conduct against the public sat silently and comfortably.
The egregious use of garnishee notices has stopped, but nothing has been done to the officials who initiated the practice to ensure their own personal key performance indicators were met. It’s a scam, but with little consequence, business as usual, government style, just like RoboDebt or Paladin, to name a couple of examples.
EDITOR’S NOTES:
Re-published with permission of Michael West Media. Link to original article is here.
Australia’s whistleblower protection laws come under the Public Interest Disclosure Act 2013, which has been criticised for being weak. The New Zealand equivalent is the Protected Disclosures Act (Protection of Whistleblowers) Act 2022.
Workplace whistleblower case to come under legal test Newsroom, 16 November 2023