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‘Whistleblowers shouldn’t face prison for doing the right thing’
By Natasha Taylor|23 May 2021
The Human Rights Law Centre has welcomed the findings of a Senate inquiry into press freedom to better protect whistleblowers and public interest journalism in Australia.
The Senate inquiry investigated the impact of national security and surveillance laws on press freedom and whistleblowing and was initiated following the 2019 raids on ABC’s Sydney headquarters and the home of journalist Annika Smethurst.
Earlier this week, the final report was published and made 17 recommendations. These included proposed reforms to secrecy and espionage laws that potentially criminalise public interest journalism and a call for long-awaited improvements to federal whistleblower protections.
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ATO whistleblower Richard Boyle. Source: AAP/ Kelly Barnes.
Any hopes that the government was quietly backing away from its war on whistleblowers have been dashed after the Commonwealth signalled it would push ahead with the prosecution of Australian Tax Office (ATO) whistleblower Richard Boyle.
Boyle is facing life in prison for his role in exposing unethical debt collection practices inside the ATO. Three external reviews corroborated many of Boyle’s concerns.
The Commonwealth signalled it may walk away from the case in March, but told a hearing on Thursday it would instead push ahead with the charges.
“This is a deeply disappointing development,” Human Rights Law Centre senior lawyer Kieran Pender told