WHISTLE BLOWING – AUSTRALIA

Australian tax office whistleblower Richard Boyle may avoid jail in plea deal

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Original article by
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 28-May-25

Former Australian Tax Office debt collection officer Richard Boyle has pleaded guilty to four criminal charges in the Adelaide District Court, while 15 charges were withdrawn. Another five charges had been withdrawn in March. Former senator Rex Patrick, who founded the Whistleblowers Justice Fund, has described Boyle as a ‘superhero’ for publicly exposing the ATO’s debt recovery tactics; he adds that it is a disgrace that Boyle has been pursued for eight years over his revelations. Patrick believes that Boyle could potentially avoid custodial sentence after pleading guilty; however, he adds that Boyle may still be convicted, which would affect his future career prospects.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN TAXATION OFFICE, DISTRICT COURT OF ADELAIDE

Whistleblower’s fresh claims on CFMEU’s missing $30m

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Original article by Simon Benson
The Australian – Page: 5 : 17-Sep-24

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is continuing to attract scrutiny over revelations that a CFMEU whistleblower had warned him in 2014 that the union had links to organised crime. Shadow employment minister Michaelia Cash has urged Albanese to disclose what action he had taken in response to the claims made by former CFMEU official Andrew Quirk a decade ago. Cash adds that Albanese should explain why Labor continued to accept donations from the CFMEU despite being aware of its criminal connections. It has also emerged that Quirk and a fellow whistleblower had raised concerns about the whereabouts of $30m from the sale of the CFMEU’s headquarters in NSW.

CORPORATES
CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY AND MARITIME EMPLOYEES UNION, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

War crimes whistleblower jailed for nearly six years

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Original article by Michael Pelly
The Australian Financial Review – Page: Online : 15-May-24

Defence whistleblower David McBride will spend a minimum of 27 months in prison for providing classified military documents to journalists. The ACT Supreme Court has sentenced McBride to five years and eight months in jail, and he will be eligible for parole in August 2026. Justice David Mossop said the former military lawyer’s actions were a "gross breach of trust" of his position in the Australian Defence Force, and others must be deterred from engaging in similar conduct. The leaked documents were subsequently used as the basis for a series of media reports on Australian solders’ alleged war crimes in Afghanistan.

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SUPREME COURT OF THE AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY, AUSTRALIAN DEFENCE FORCE

Secrecy of Bernard Collaery trial risked damaging public’s faith in administration of justice, court rules

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Original article by Sarah Basford Canales
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 10-Jan-24

The former Coalition government is under further scrutiny over the Bernard Collaery whistleblower case. The ACT has released details of a judgment in which it concluded that the Coalition’s decision to allow much of Collaery’s trial to remain behind closed doors had put too more emphasis on the issue of national security rather than the administration of justice. The court removed many of the secrecy provisions after deeming that "no risk to national security would materialise". Labor dropped the charges against Collaery several months after winning the 2022 election.

CORPORATES
COURT OF APPEAL (AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY), AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Media bosses unite to push government on press freedom

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Original article by Nick Bonyhady
The Sydney Morning Herald – Page: Online : 28-Feb-23

Federal Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus met with executives from Australia’s major media groups on Monday to discuss a range of issues, including proposed changes to privacy laws. The executives also pushed the goverment to act on recommendations that resulted from raids on the ABC and the home of then News Corp journalist Annika Smethurst in 2019, with Drefyus saying he had been shocked by the raids at the time. Other issues discussed at the meeting included increased protection for whistleblowers and further changes to defamation laws.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. ATTORNEY-GENERAL’S DEPT, AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS

‘Publishing is not a crime’: media groups urge US to drop Julian Assange charges

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Original article by Jim Waterson
The Guardian – Page: Online : 29-Nov-22

The media organisations that first helped WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange to publish leaked diplomatic cables in 2010 have called on the US to drop its prosecution of him. They contend that the prosecution of Assange is an attack on media freedom, and that "publishing is not a crime". Assange is currently being held in a UK prison, where he is awaiting the outcome of an appeal against a ruling in June by then UK home secretary Priti Patel that he be extradited to the US.

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WIKILEAKS

In this sports betting company, the winners are called problem customers

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Original article by Steve Cannane, Kyle Taylor
abc.net au – Page: Online : 6-Dec-19

Former employees of UK-based wagering giant Bet365 have revealed the strategies it uses to protect its profit margins. The whistleblowers say Bet365 uses complex algorithms to identify customers who have a high win rate and limit the size of the bets that they can place via its platform. The algorithms are also used to target punters who lose frequently, in order to increase their betting limits. In-play betting is one of Bet365’s biggest sources of revenue globally, although it is restricted to telephone betting in Australia. An internal document shows that Bet365 is concerned that telephone-based in-play betting is easier for customers to exploit than online betting.

CORPORATES
BET365 GROUP LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION

Trust media on national security: Ita

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Original article by Sean Parnell
The Australian – Page: 5 : 5-Nov-19

ABC chair Ita Buttrose has urged Australians to support the media industry’s ‘Your Right to Know’ campaign. She has also stressed that the media can be trusted with regard to national security. Buttrose has called for legislative action to protect whistleblowers and public interest journalism, as well as an overhaul of Freedom of Information laws.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, COMMITTEE FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS

ABC raid could scare off sources

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Original article by Hannah Wootton
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 30-Oct-19

The Federal Court has adjourned its hearing into the ABC’s legal challenge to the validity of a police raid on its Sydney headquarters in June. Matt Collins, SC, who is representing the public broadcaster, has told the court that whistleblowers will be reluctant to contact journalists if the Australian Federal Police’s search warrant is not overturned. Amongst other things, the ABC’s case is based on the implied freedom of political communication in the Constitution.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Let whistleblowers speak to avoid a corrupt society

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Original article by Joyce Moullakis
The Australian – Page: 2 : 24-Oct-19

Commonwealth Bank of Australia whistleblower Jeff Morris has criticised the federal government’s handling of the issue of protection for whistleblowers and journalists. He has questioned the government’s "ethics and intent" with regard to whistleblowers, warning that its attempts to shut down dissent on the issue will allow corruption and wrongdoing to thrive. Morris exposed the misconduct within CBA’s financial planning division which resulted in customers receiving compensation.

CORPORATES
COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION