iscoverOn Thursday, ATO whistleblower Richard Boyle avoided convictions and a jail sentence, seven years after he first blew the whistle on aggressive ATO debt collection practices.
ATO whistleblower Richard Boyle given 12-month good behaviour bond
28 August 2025
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10 minute read
Boyle faced the South Australia District Court on Thursday (28 August) to hear the final outcome of his high-profile whistleblowing case, which had sparked reforms within the ATO.
The sentencing judge imposed a 12-month good behaviour bond on Boyle, with no recorded conviction. The judge noted that his offending had occurred in “extenuating circumstances.”
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Richard Boyle’s lawyer, Steven Milsteed, argued that Boyle had acted in “sincere belief that he was acting in the public interest” when he blew the whistle, ABC News reported.
In May, Boyle pleaded guilty to four charges related to his public interest disclosures. The charges included recording protected information, recording another person’s tax file number, intentionally using a listening device to record a private conversation without consent and disclosing protected information to another entity.
Boyle first raised concerns internally regarding the ATO’s unethical debt recovery tactics in 2017, when he worked as a debt collection officer at the ATO.
After he felt that his complaints had been ignored, he appeared on an ABC Four Corners program in 2018, alleging that ATO debt collection officers had been instructed to use heavy-handed tactics to claw tax debts back from taxpayers.
His whistleblowing efforts sparked independent inquiries which substantiated his allegations, leading to new laws to prevent such conduct from being repeated.
Independent MP Andrew Wilkie welcomed the news that no conviction had been recorded against Boyle’s name.
“I was heartened to hear that no conviction has been recorded against Tax Office whistleblower Richard Boyle, the only sanction being a 12-month good behaviour bond. Mr Boyle is of course the former ATO officer who blew the lid on egregious misconduct within the Tax Office, allegations that were subsequently found to be true,” Wilkie said.
“Many Australians were appalled that any action was taken against this brave whistleblower. Indeed, there certainly should never have been a drawn-out and expensive court case.”
Wilkie called for the establishment of an independent Whistleblower Protection Authority to support those that make public interest disclosures.
The bill, which was put forward by the crossbench in February, remains before the senate.
“Our whistleblower protections remain deeply inadequate and leave individuals with unsatisfactory protections or pathways to lawfully disclose malfeasance or misconduct in the public interest,” Wilkie said.
“This often takes an immense personal, legal and financial toll on whistleblowers, their friends and families.”
One count Boyle was accused of - the recording of protected information - related to an instance where he took photographs of a taxpayer’s information including their name, phone number and financial circumstances, court documents alleged.
The taxpayer, known in court documents as ‘Mr CC,’ owed the ATO approximately $80,000. He had suffered a severe illness and was hospitalized, resulting in him losing assets, work and income. At the same time, his wife was on maternity leave following the birth of their third child.
His mental health struggles, combined with the financial pressure, had led to a suicide attempt, court records said.
After Mr CC made a hardship call to Boyle, he recommended the ATO to not pursue the debt, in a bid to temporarily relieve the financial hardship. The recommendation was accepted.
Boyle asserted that he had taken the photos as evidence to highlight the immense stress that the ATO could cause taxpayers and the real risk of harm that debts could inflict.
He said he had intended to use it as part of a public interest disclosure to highlight the importance of case-by-case management and having compassionate options, in contrast to the ATO’s harsh approach which encouraged the issuance of garnishee orders.
In 2017, the ATO debt recovery team in Adelaide had been instructed - “quite clearly and categorically” - to start issuing standard garnishees on every case, Boyle told ABC Four Corners.
A garnishee notice is a debt collection tool which allows the ATO to order banks to hand over taxpayer money directly to the tax authorities without consulting the taxpayer.
In August 2017, Boyle allegedly recorded a ‘garnishee training meeting’ in a bid to collect evidence for a public interest disclosure on the scheme, which he viewed as harmful to taxpayers. This was the basis for another charge against him.
He said that the garnishee directive had “caused businesses to be shut down without cause and individual taxpayers to be pushed to the point of despair and suicide,” court documents showed.
“The motivation appeared to be that we were just collecting revenue before the end of the financial year and it didn’t matter if we hurt members of the community,” Boyle told ABC Four Corners.
It was later found that the Adelaide ATO office had been issuing more standard garnishee notices than other branches, and that a significant number had been inappropriate.
In May, Boyle’s guilty plea drew broad criticism regarding both his treatment and Australia’s inadequate whistleblower protection laws.
Human rights advocates welcomed Thursday’s court verdict, but warned it hadn’t erased the seven-year legal ordeal that Boyle had endured following his decision to blow the whistle.
“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, this never should have happened. Richard Boyle made the brave decision to speak up when he witnessed wrongdoing, for years he has faced prosecution and punishment,” Kieran Pender, associate legal director at the Human Rights Law Centre, said on Thursday.
“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.”
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