Alex Gallacher (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to make a fairly short contribution on the report tabled by Senator Brockman. The Australian Labor Party is ever vigilant to the fact that whistleblowers need appropriate protections, so it was with great interest that I participated in this inquiry. I think that the comments of Senator Brockman and Senator Patrick have appropriately highlighted the sensitivities around it.

Coming from a very non-legal background and having looked at the evidence, heard the witnesses and asked a few questions, I found it abundantly clear that, even if you followed two separate lines—one might be the whistleblower line and the other might be the ATO line—there was a problem. It may have taken artificial intelligence in the form of an algorithm to produce the statistical aberration that pointed to an overuse of the enduring garnishees, but both lines of inquiry agreed on the same outcome: there was a statistical aberration in the Adelaide office or there was a direct instruction in the Adelaide office which had an unusual outcome. According to the ATO office, that had resulted in them attending, investigating and correcting. I am not anywhere legally qualified enough to give any view on how this process should have been enacted, but it would appear to me that, superficially, it's a bit light on in the way the ATO conducted its affairs. Protection of whistleblowers is fundamental to Australian democracy. Talking about the Australian tax office, there is no other area of government that Australians interact with more often, so we need to make sure that in that space whistleblowers are fully protected and able to make disclosures if the system doesn't allow their appropriate views to be heard.