In 2017, Australian Taxation Office employee Richard Boyle raised internal concerns about debt-collection practices in the agency’s Adelaide office. He alleged that staff were pressured to increase the use of garnishee notices, which allow the ATO to withdraw money from taxpayers’ bank accounts. An email shown on ABC’s Four Corners in April 2018 urged a team to use the “last hour of power” to issue five more garnishees. The ATO later said the email went to only 12 staff members and was intended ironically, while acknowledging incidents that required better training and communication.
Shortly before the broadcast, the Australian Federal Police raided Boyle’s home and seized personal property, including his phone. He was initially charged with 66 offences involving alleged unlawful recording, handling a tax file number and disclosure of protected information; the Commonwealth reduced the case to 24 charges in July 2020. Boyle pleaded guilty to four charges and, on 28 August 2025, Judge Liesl Kudelka imposed a A$500 fine and a 12-month good-behaviour bond without recording a conviction. An Inspector-General of Taxation review led by Ali Noroozi found the alleged conduct was not widespread but prompted the ATO to accept recommendations on training, internal communications and contingency planning, while the prosecution helped drive renewed debate over Australian whistleblower protections.
