A whistleblowing former tax officer has told a South Australian court he suffers from complex post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from his time employed at the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).
Richard Boyle, 46, is accused of 24 offences, including recording and disclosing protected information, stemming from his decision to tell the ABC about unethical government debt recovery techniques at the ATO.
Mr Boyle, who worked as a debt collection officer at the ATO, on Thursday took to the witness stand in South Australia's District Court as part of a bid to be declared immune from prosecution as a whistleblower.
It is the first major test case of protections available under the Public Interest Disclosure Act.
While giving evidence, Mr Boyle, who worked at the ATO for 14 years, began to tear up as he told the court he had experienced complex PTSD and "spent a few years in bed" because of how he and taxpayers were treated.
He recalled a 2017 meeting in which staff were allegedly told to issue more severe "garnishee orders" – a legal notice demanding debt payments – to taxpayers.
He said he feared the directive by senior management "would cause suicide and death in the community on a massive scale".
"We were instructed to skip a point-in-time garnishee issuing … and go straight to standard garnishees," he said.
"I was shocked and distressed."
Mr Boyle told the court he had no intention to follow the instruction because he was "stressed about the effect this was going to have on taxpayers".
"It was staggering and gobsmacking that such a directive could be given by such a senior leader in the Australian Taxation Office," he said.
Concern about effect of debt collection
Mr Boyle also gave the court other examples of when he had tried to ease the debt for taxpayers who he was concerned about.
In one example, he said a woman, who he believed was being coercively controlled by her partner, called the helpline for assistance.
He said the woman and her ex-partner had debt the partner had no intention to pay.
He told the court that as "quite an experienced debt collector" with more than five years' experience, he believed chasing this money was a waste of resources and would be detrimental to the woman and her children.
Mr Boyle said his manager would not approve easing the debt.
"It was absolutely disgusting and appalling behaviour and it continues to this day," he said.
In his affidavit released last month, Mr Boyle accused the ATO of being "callous" after taxpayer threats of suicide went ignored by senior Adelaide staff members.
Mr Boyle will be cross-examined by the director of public prosecution.
In a statement, an ATO spokeswoman said it was "not be appropriate to comment on specific matters which are currently before the court".
The case continues.
