The Human Rights Law Centre appeared for Richard Boyle at his appeal hearing 9 August 2023
The Human Rights Law Centre participated as amicus curiae (friend of the court) in a landmark appeal as part of the ongoing unjust prosecution of whistleblower Richard Boyle.
The appeal will determine the scope of legal protections for all Australian whistleblowers.
Boyle, who is being prosecuted after blowing the whistle on unethical debt recovery practices at the Australian Taxation Office, sought immunity under the federal public sector whistleblowing law, the Public Interest Disclosure Act.
In March, Judge Kudelka of the District Court of South Australia ruled that Boyle was not immune from prosecution.
The judgment was the first consideration of the scope of the protections for Australian whistleblowers. Boyle was charged in relation to allegedly unlawfully gathering documents and recording conversations as part of his whistleblowing – which took place first internally, then to the tax ombudsman and then, as a last resort, to the ABC, Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.
Judge Kudelka ruled that the key protection in the PID Act only applies to the act of blowing the whistle, not related preparatory steps.
Boyle appealed to the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of South Australia, and in June Justice Doyle granted leave to the Human Rights Law Centre to make submissions. Last month Boyle’s trial was delayed until September 2024 in light of the ongoing appeal.
Kieran Pender, Senior Lawyer at the Human Rights Law Centre, said:
“Richard Boyle’s appeal will determine the strength of protections for all Australian whistleblowers, given similar provisions exist in almost all Australian whistleblower protection laws. It is a vitally important test case with significant implications for truth and transparency in this country.
“Boyle faces the spectre of jail for blowing the whistle on government wrongdoing – whistleblowing that has been vindicated by several independent inquiries.
“By exposing human rights abuses, government wrongdoing and corporate misdeeds, whistleblowers make Australia a better place. The Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus KC should fix the law and establish a whistleblower protection authority, to ensure that whistleblowers are protected, not punished.”
The Human Rights Law Centre has briefed Perry Herzfeld SC, Michelle Hamlyn and Hannah Ryan. National law firm Johnson Winter Slattery is acting for the Centre in the proceedings, led by partners Eve Thomson and Christopher Beames, senior associate Jade Tyrrell and associate Claudia Boccaccio.