One of the taxpayers helped by Australian Taxation Office (ATO) whistleblower Richard Boyle has spoken out for the first time, describing the pursuit of the person who gave him a lifeline as "insanity".
Key points:
- Richard Boyle helped Dirk Fielding after the ATO used heavy-handed debt collection tactics that would have closed his publishing business
- The prosecution of Mr Boyle will be a test of legal protections for whistleblowers
- Mr Boyle's wife Louise Beaston has written to Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus, urging him to drop the case against her husband
Dirk Fielding told 7.30 his Melbourne-based family magazine publishing business would have collapsed without Mr Boyle's help.
He said he blamed himself for the predicament Mr Boyle was now in, which includes criminal charges, which could see him jailed for up to 46 years.
Mr Boyle became an internal whistleblower in October 2017 but when his complaints were ignored, he went public and told Four Corners about a disturbing culture at the ATO which included his area being instructed to use more heavy-handed tactics on taxpayers who owed the tax office money.
Mr Boyle's wife, Louise Beaston, has also spoken to the 7.30 about the couple's "nightmare", which began in April 2018 when their home was raided in the early hours of the morning by ATO and Australian Federal Police officers.
"I saw the police officer standing in my bedroom doorway. And I just thought, Oh, my goodness, this is so scary," she said.
"I could see his gun in his holster. And yeah, I was in shock."
Boyle was charged with offences including taping private conversations without consent and taking photos of taxpayer information. With criminal charges hanging over him, he has been unable to work for five years.
"It was shocking to me that my husband could be considered on the same level in terms of charges along with murderers and serial killers. It's unfathomable," Ms Beaston said.
"The hardest part of all of this, is the fact that there's no end in sight.
"That alone is enough to destroy someone's mental health," she said.
Ms Beaston has also written to the prime minister and attorney-general, urging them to stop the prosecution.
"I plead with you to drop the case and let Richard and I get on with our lives. All Richard ever did was tell the truth," she wrote.
'I begged for help'
Mr Fielding's world collided with Mr Boyle's when he sent a distressing fax to the ATO in May 2017, begging for help.
Mr Fielding's publishing business of 35 years was in serious trouble.
He was recovering from a ruptured aneurysm in his brain which had left him needing to learn to walk and swallow again.
After his wife Kaye took over the running of the business, they discovered an employee was systematically defrauding them.
The tax office came after them in pursuit of an outstanding tax debt, using a garnishee notice, a debt collection tool that allows the ATO to order a bank to hand over money from a taxpayer's account without their consent.
"The ATO took out 100 per cent of the money in our account," Mr Fielding told the ABC.
"I'm not saying I didn't owe the ATO money … but when the money was taken out, it virtually had shut our business down. And at that stage, I couldn't talk to anybody at the ATO. You can't email the ATO. The only way you can communicate with the ATO was through fax, and I sent faxes."
"I sent one fax to the ATO and … I begged for help. I didn't receive a response. And then I sent another fax to the ATO. And I begged again … I wasn't trying to avoid the tax. All I was saying was that I just needed to get back on back on my feet. And that's when Richard contacted me."
Mr Boyle decided to help him out by lifting the garnishee and setting up a repayment plan.
"It was just pure relief, Mr Fielding said.
"It was the difference between closing the doors and being able to trade … and we're still here today.
'I feel absolutely terrible'
Mr Fielding was not the only taxpayer Mr Boyle helped.
In October 2017 Mr Boyle was so concerned by some of the ATO's practices that he lodged an official whistleblower complaint.
When his complaint was dismissed, he went public on Four Corners.
He highlighted an email sent to 12 staff towards the end of a shift: "The last hour of power is upon us… that means you still have time to issue another five garnishees … right?"
Mr Fielding was contacted by Four Corners weeks before the program aired.
Instead of responding to the request he called the ATO and asked for Mr Boyle.
"I rang the ATO, and I asked for Richard Boyle. And I got asked a few questions. I said, hey, look, Four Corners has been on the phone to me … things blew up from there."
Soon after, Mr Boyle's home was raided.
Mr Fielding remembers being told his tax information was found in Mr Boyle's home.
Nine months later, Mr Boyle was charged with criminal offences including taping private conversations without consent and taking photos of taxpayer information.
Mr Fielding said he felt partly responsible for Mr Boyle's predicament.
"I honestly feel that I am to blame," he said.
"I feel absolutely terrible for Richard who's put his life on the line to help me … and he's been persecuted to such an extent. It's just insanity."
Mr Boyle was vindicated in a series of inquiries and reports, including a report by the ATO watchdog, the Inspector-General of Taxation, which found "problems did arise in certain localised situations for a limited period, particularly so at Adelaide's local ATO site".
A separate investigation by the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman found at the time that the ATO's use of garnishee notices was "excessive".
Whistleblower protections face key legal test
Before Mr Boyle's criminal trial starts next year, his lawyers lodged a case to try to get immunity from prosecution by testing the law on whistleblower protections.
In March, South Australian District Court Judge Liesl Kudelka ruled that Mr Boyle was not immune from prosecution.
The case is being appealed in the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of South Australia.
Kieran Pender, a senior lawyer at the Human Rights Law Centre, which is participating in the case as amicus curiae (friend of the court), said it was significant because it would determine the scope of protections for all current and future Australian whistleblowers.
"It was really important for us at the Human Rights Law Centre to advance a positive argument to say to the Court of Appeal in Richard's case, we need a better interpretation that protects whistleblowers," he said.
"If Richard Boyle goes to jail for exposing wrongdoing, that will have a real chilling effect on whistleblowers everywhere. People won't speak up about wrongdoing. People already aren't speaking up about wrongdoing because this is what they see.
"It's not a good society to live in where people go to jail for telling the truth."
'We've had to put our life on hold'
There are growing calls for the Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus to pardon Mr Boyle.
Mr Dreyfus has the power under section 71B of the Judiciary Act to stop prosecutions that are not in the public interest.
Last July he exercised that power to discontinue the prosecution of Canberra lawyer Bernard Collaery, who was facing charges relating to allegedly revealing details of an alleged Australian spying operation in Timor-Leste during sensitive oil and gas treaty negotiations.
"If I had a chance to say something to Mark Dreyfus, it would be stop," Mr Fielding said.
"If he asked me to get on a plane tomorrow, I would be on a plane up there. And I would sit down with him. And I would tell him exactly that. Richard did the right thing by me."
In her letter to the prime minister and the attorney-general, Ms Beaston said their lives were shattered when the federal police and tax office raided their home in 2018.
"We are stuck in legal quicksand," she wrote.
"Every day we wake up and wonder when this nightmare will end. You have the power to stop this injustice."
Former senator Rex Patrick, who has supported Mr Boyle since the beginning, says the government should step in and stop the prosecution.
"This whole thing is a Shakespearean tragedy. We've got Richard the hero, we've got the dichotomy of good and evil. We've got all sorts of pressures taking place. And we've got the Australian Taxation Office."
A spokesperson for the attorney-general said in a statement: "The attorney-general's power to discontinue proceedings is reserved for very unusual and exceptional circumstances."
The spokesperson said as Mr Boyle's proceedings remained ongoing, it was inappropriate to comment further.
The ATO said in a statement that it was not appropriate to comment on specific matters which were currently before the court.
It said the ATO's processes and procedures on how to make a public interest disclosure were regularly reviewed and updated.
"We're in our sixth year now," Ms Beaston told the ABC.
"We haven't had children… We've had to put our life effectively on hold for years. That's a sacrifice I hadn't anticipated.
"It kind of feels like we're … already serving the punishment. The punishment has been the last six years of our life lost to fighting this."
Watch this story tonight on 7.30 on ABC TV and iview.
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2023-09-17 18:38:48Z
CBMicGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvbmV3cy8yMDIzLTA5LTE4L2F0by13aGlzdGxlYmxvd2VyLXJpY2hhcmQtYm95bGUtcHJvc2VjdXRpb24tdG8tdGVzdC1wcm90ZWN0aW9ucy8xMDI4NjA4MTTSAShodHRwczovL2FtcC5hYmMubmV0LmF1L2FydGljbGUvMTAyODYwODE0
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