The Commonwealth should end its prosecution of a tax office whistleblower in South Australia, the Human Rights Law Centre says.
The centre has called on Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus to intervene in the case against Richard Boyle ahead of a hearing of his defence on Tuesday.
Boyle is facing a string of charges after exposing debt collection tactics within the Australian Taxation Office.
“Whistleblowers should be protected, not punished,” Kieran Pender, a senior lawyer at the Human Rights Law Centre, said on Monday.
“Richard Boyle did the right thing – he spoke up about wrongdoing taking place within a powerful government agency.”
Boyle is facing 24 offences in the South Australian District Court related to the release of protected information.
He has pleaded not guilty and is expected to challenge the legality of the charges under federal whistleblowing laws, arguing his actions were consistent with the Public Interest Disclosure Act and he is immune from prosecution.
It will be the first time the provision has been tested in a criminal case and could set a legal precedent for other whistleblowers, and lead to the Act being reviewed by federal parliament.
Boyle first raised his concerns through internal ATO processes and then made a complaint to the tax ombudsman before taking part in a joint media investigation.
In those reports, he revealed ATO staff had been instructed to use harsher debt collection tactics on indebted individuals and small businesses.
Those tactics included the use of orders that require a bank to hand over money from a personal or business account without the permission of the taxpayer.
Follow-up reviews found Boyle’s allegations of aggressive debt recovery practices at the ATO at the time were valid.
A federal parliamentary report also found the ATO had conducted a “superficial” investigation into his public interest disclosure.
If Boyle’s attempt to have the charges quashed are unsuccessful, he’s likely to be tried before a jury next year.
“There is no public interest in this prosecution going ahead,” Mr Pender said.
“Boyle has been vindicated by three independent inquiries, which collectively found that the ATO had misused its debt recovery powers, and that the ATO’s internal investigation of Boyle’s whistleblowing was superficial. 
“Yet he finds himself on trial for telling the truth.” 
A spokesman for Mr Dreyfus said the attorney-general does not comment on cases currently before the courts.
Mr Dreyfus has previously said he hopes to update the Public Interest Disclosure Act next year to “reform and improve the scheme” protecting whistleblowers.
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