No jail and no conviction that's the end result of years in court for a whistleblower who exposed the systemic abuse of powers by the Australian Taxation Office. Richard Boyle admitted taking protected information and making secret recordings to reveal heavy-handed tactics used to recoup tax debts. But a South Australian court has found he acted with good intentions.
00:00It's been seven years Richard Boyle says have left him broken.
00:07The whistleblower emerged from court to jubilation.
00:11Celebrated for revealing aggressive debt collection tactics at the ATO,
00:15those revelations made to the ABC resulted in a raft of criminal charges.
00:21Facing up to 161 years behind bars,
00:24in May he reached a plea deal for just four charges.
00:28South Australia's District Court recorded no conviction or jail time,
00:32instead imposing a 12-month good behaviour bond.
00:36I just want to say thank you to all the supporters.
00:38That's all for today, thank you very much.
00:40Really appreciate everyone over the last six or seven years supporting me and Louise.
00:47Thank you very much.
00:52In sentencing, Judge Liesel Koudelka said Mr Boyle knew he was crossing the line
00:57when he secretly recorded conversations and took photos of confidential documents.
01:02She said,
01:03While there's no room in our society for individuals to take the law into their own hands to dispense justice,
01:08Mr Boyle did it because he genuinely believed what he was doing was justified for the greater good.
01:15His backers welcomed the sentence but say the case still demonstrates major flaws in Australia's whistleblower protections.
01:22Today we've seen Richard Boyle walk from the court free of conviction and that's a really small win in a disgraceful prosecution.
01:32This has been a dark saga for Australian democracy that's had a really chilling effect on people speaking up in Australia.
01:38The Federal Attorney General says the government has already made improvements to the act and is committed to a second stage of whistleblower reforms.
01:46At the end of the hearing, Richard Boyle apologised to any victims of his offending and for taking up the court's time.
01:52But Judge Koudelka said that wasn't necessary, saying that's just the wheels of justice.
01:57It's unclear if the Commonwealth will appeal the sentence, but those supporting Mr Boyle say after seven long years,
02:05he should now be allowed to get on with his life.
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