Mercy plea for 'courageous' tax office whistleblower
In a plea deal with prosecutors, the 49-year-old Adelaide man admitted four criminal charges linked to his exposure of unethical debt-recovery practices at the Australian Tax Office.
During sentencing submissions in Adelaide District Court on Friday, Boyle's barrister Steven Millsteed KC said it was "a rare and exceptional case".
"The court is asked to sentence an individual whose offending conduct is not motivated by some nefarious purpose, self-interest or malice … but by a sincere belief that he was acting in the public interest," he said.
Boyle has admitted disclosing protected information to another entity, making a record of protected information, using a listening device to record a private conversation and recording other people's tax file numbers.
With the exception of one charge, which involved recording a phone conversation with his dying father, Boyle's only motivation was to obtain evidence of serious maladministration with the tax office, Mr Millsteed said.
"His conduct was grounded in moral courage and a deep commitment to public service," the barrister said.
Boyle had since lost his job, suffered depression, anxiety and "full-blown chronic PTSD", and his family was in a "precarious financial situation", he added.
The former public servant had therefore suffered enough, making it appropriate for him to receive a bond without conviction, Mr Millsteed said.
Boyle, a former debt-collection officer at the tax office, first raised concerns internally about debt-recovery practices in October 2017.
Believing his complaints had been ignored, he went public on the ABC's Four Corners program about the tactics used against taxpayers who owed the ATO money.
Mr Millsteed said Boyle's whistleblowing did some public good.
"It resulted in the Inspector-General of Taxation conducting an investigation into the ATO's use of garnishee notes and changes were made in respect of that," he said.
Prosecutor Nicholas Robinson KC said he did not take issue with the proposition that Boyle "was doing things for what he thought was good reason".
"However, it can't be ignored that he knew that he was breaching the law," he said.
It was wrong to argue that a breach of the law was minor because it was based on a genuine, morally held belief, Mr Robinson said.
"That can't be and isn't the law … it's a court of law, not a court of morals," he said.
Mr Robinson urged Judge Liesl Kudelka to record convictions but did not oppose a suspended prison sentence.
Outside court, Whistleblowers Justice Fund founder Rex Patrick said the case was a "great injustice" and it was shameful Boyle had been pursued by the tax office.
"Most Australians would consider him to be a hero," he said.
The case also sent a message to others in the public service that they shouldn't blow the whistle on wrongdoing, the former federal senator said.
"Richard has suffered tremendously … he has been dragged to hell and back," Mr Patrick said.
"He did what was in the public interest, good came from it and he ends up facing a conviction."
Boyle will be sentenced on August 28.
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