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Whistleblower Richard Boyle exposed unethical practices at the Australian Tax Office in 2017 in a Four Corners piece, and after his complaints weren’t addressed. He was sentenced to 12 months good behaviour after an eight-year prosecution, the Human Rights Law Centre deems a “grave injustice” in “another dark day for democracy.”

Earlier in the year, Boyle reached a plea deal to avoid prison time after losing a whistleblowing defence at the Court of Appeal.

Kieran Pender, Associate Legal Director at the Human Rights Law Centre (HRLC), said, “today concludes a sorry saga that has been devastating for Richard Boyle and undermined Australian democracy.”

“While the no-conviction sentence is a small ray of light […] Richard Boyle made the brave decision to speak up when he witnessed wrongdoing, for years, he has faced prosecution and punishment.”

Peter Greste, Executive Director of the Alliance for Journalists’ Freedom (AJF), shared this sentiment, saying “[Boyle’s] prosecution and sentencing have had a serious chilling effect on public interest journalism and the sources they rely on.”

Former Senator and Founder of the Whistleblower Justice Fund, Rex Patrick, called Boyle a “hero” responsible for ending ATO’s “egregious practices”.
“As he prepared his public interest disclosure, he took a photograph, hit a record button, and sent an encrypted email to his lawyer, assuming he would be protected as a whistleblower – but it turns out he was wrong.”

HRLC and AJF noted this case confirmed the urgent need for whistleblower reform and called on the federal government to act on it.

“Richard’s case shows both the vital role that brave whistleblowers play in our democracy, and the need to protect them when they use the media as a whistle-of-last-resort,” said Greste. “It might be too late to help Richard, but the government can still fix the broken system with a Whistleblower Protection Authority.”

Pender concluded, “The Albanese Government must not stand idly by as whistleblowers are punished. They must act with urgent law reform and the establishment of a Whistleblower Protection Authority to ensure prosecutions like this never happen again.”