There’s something radically wrong with a society that allows mass murderer James Gargasoulas to be eligible for parole in 46 years, locks up serial killer Ivan Milat for 181 years and then has an Australian Taxation Office employee facing 161 years in prison for blowing the whistle on a poor culture inside one of our most powerful agencies.

Richard Boyle has been charged with 66 offences including telephone tapping and recording of conversations without the consent of all parties and making a record of protected information, in some cases passing that information to a third party.

ATO Commissioner Chris Jordan during an ATO senate estimates committee hearing at Parliament House in Canberra on May 30, 2018. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer

The information and summons sheet lists ATO Commissioner Chris Jordan as the informant, which includes his signature. The move will send chills through staff in the ATO who might've thought about following Boyle to become whistleblowers.

The former tax employee hit the headlines in April 2018 when he turned whistleblower in a joint media investigation with The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and ABC’s Four Corners titled Mongrel Bunch of Bastards, which blew the lid on abuses by the ATO against small business and individuals.