Senator Patrick made clear he wasn't criticising the courts, but said the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions made the wrong call in prosecuting Mr Boyle and that Attorney-General Christian Porter ought to use his powers to reverse it. "I'm not going into whether Richard is guilty or not guilty, that is a matter for the courts. What I am criticising is the executive decision to prosecute and I'm still talking to government about that particular decision and I will no doubt end up talking to others in the parliament, my crossbench colleagues as well." ATO whistleblower Richard Boyle and his wife Louise Beaston. Credit:Ben Searcy Senator Patrick ruled out trading his crucial vote to support the Coalition's tax package, but admitted he had raised Mr Boyle's case as part of discussions. "We will work on the tax cuts on their merits, the legislation on its merits. But there is an underlying need for a good relationship with the government, and to work in good faith with them," Senator Patrick told the panel audience.

"When we're doing that, we can put things on the table, issues of concern to us. I can tell you, I have already mentioned Richard Boyle to [Finance Minister] Mathias Cormann as an issue that over the coming months we need to talk about." Senator Patrick later hardened his stance to The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald and made clear the Centre Alliance would not be trading votes on the matter, which he said would be a "dangerous" move. The senator also confirmed he would table a bill in the first sitting week of parliament to enshrine in the constitution a “first amendment-style” protection of freedom of the press and freedom of expression. He said he would table the bill next Wednesday or Thursday to take his proposed constitutional changes to a referendum and expects that bill would first be referred to a parliamentary committee. Senator Patrick's comments come against a backdrop of twin raids on reporters. The Australian Federal Police earlier this month searched the ABC's offices in Sydney and the Canberra home of News Corp political editor Annika Smethurst as part of probes into the leaking of classified documents.

Mr Porter on Tuesday repeated that he would not be intervening on the decision to prosecute Mr Boyle. "The power of the Attorney-General to reverse an independent decision of the [Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions] is only to be used in the most extraordinary and exceptional circumstances and this narrow power has, in fact, never been used since it was established 36 years ago," he said in a statement. He noted the charges against Mr Boyle concern the alleged disclosure of confidential taxpayer information, recording and disclosing tax file numbers, and the use of listening devices. Mr Boyle had alleged that some ATO staff were instructed to use an aggressive debt collection practice, known as garnishee notices, to seize funds from the taxpayers' bank accounts without notice or consideration of their circumstances. In 2017, Mr Boyle made a disclosure under the provisions of the Public Interest Disclosure Act 2013. His allegations were investigated by a senior ATO investigator and dismissed 15 days later.

The ATO offered him a settlement over an alleged breach of the Public Service Code of Conduct, with no admission of liability. But he declined, knowing he would have to sign a gag order to prevent him speaking publicly about what he knew. Mr Boyle has since been charged with 66 offences that could result in a maximum sentence of 161 years in jail. He told the panel audience it had been a "rollercoaster" and the past year had been "shocking". "It could have killed me, I mean that quite literally."