Boyle appeal loss demonstrates urgent need for whistleblower protection reform
The Albanese Government must urgently reform whistleblower protection laws and establish a whistleblower protection authority after tax office whistleblower Richard Boyle’s appeal was dismissed, said the Human Rights Law Centre today.
On Wednesday, the South Australian Court of Appeal rejected Boyle’s appeal from an earlier ruling of the District Court, which had held that conduct as Boyle prepared to blow the whistle was outside the scope of the immunity for whistleblowers in the Public Interest Disclosure Act.
The judgment was published on Friday afternoon. In the decision, three judges ruled that whistleblower protections only covered the act of whistleblowing, not reasonably necessary prior conduct. This ruling confirms the narrow scope of protections available for all whistleblowers in Australia.
Boyle blew the whistle internally, and then to oversight bodies, before ultimately going public with his concerns to leading investigative journalist Adele Ferguson AM. His whistleblowing sparked several independent inquiries which vindicated allegations of wrongdoing within the tax office’s debt recovery team.
The Human Rights Law Centre, which operates Australia’s first dedicated legal service for whistleblowers, the Whistleblower Project, participated in the appeal as amicus curiae (friend of the court).
Boyle was first charged in January 2019. Following the unsuccessful appeal on Wednesday, he is due to face trial in September.
The case has come alongside other high-profile whistleblower prosecutions, including Witness K and Bernard Collaery, who helped expose Australia’s espionage against Timor-Leste, and Afghan Files whistleblower David McBride, who was recently sentenced to almost six years’ imprisonment. In each case, independent inquiries or litigation have vindicated the allegations of wrongdoing.
Kieran Pender, Senior Lawyer at the Human Rights Law Centre, said:
“By exposing human rights violations, government wrongdoing and corporate misdeeds, whistleblowers make Australia a better place. But the Court of Appeal’s ruling underscores the frail nature of Australia’s whistleblower protections. The continued prosecution of Richard Boyle is not in the public interest and has a chilling effect on prospective whistleblowers. When whistleblowers stay silent, wrongdoing goes unchecked and our democracy suffers.
“Whistleblowers should be protected, not punished. Australia’s whistleblower protection laws are in urgent need of comprehensive, robust reform. Before the last election the Albanese Government promised to fix federal public sector whistleblowing laws – it must honour that commitment before the end of the current parliamentary term. The government should also commit to establishing a whistleblower protection authority, to oversee and enforce whistleblowing laws and support whistleblowers.”
The Human Rights Law Centre was represented by national law firm Johnson Winter Slattery in the appeal, led by partners Eve Thomson and Christopher Beames, senior associate Jade Tyrrell and associate Claudia Boccaccio. Barristers Perry Herzfeld SC, Michelle Hamlyn and Hannah Ryan appeared for the Centre.
Media contacts:
Thomas Feng
Acting Engagement Director
Human Rights Law Centre
0431 285 275
thomas.feng@hrlc.org.au