in the grand scheme of cherry picked or outright fabricated stuff from the news media, i'd rate this one pretty low down. possibly ABC could have checked with the ATO? but given they're the ones being dragged, i'd hazard a guess they'll be fairly reluctant to help the investigation. Also not entirely far fetched that a certain department requires comms via something other than phone as they might not be manned like their call centres. And again not entirely far fetched that they're still using fax, in fact it sounds alot like the sort of beurocratic runarund a place like the ATO might have as official policy in the hopes a certain percentage of people give up instead of arguing the point.
Devils advocate - Whistleblowing should have consequences if they're found to be fabricated.
Also whistleblowing shouldn't result in any consequences unless the aggrieved party can prove it was fabricated
Slippery slope with tons of grey area for sure, not something i'd want to traverse or make rules for. (Now back to my little hole where i can hold strong opinions on complex issues and not provide even the slightest idea on how it should be excecuted
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Australian government entities like Centrelink and the ATO have always made communication difficult for the unfortunate people who have to deal with them, especially when something goes wrong.
My personal opinion is that this is a deliberate policy, in order to demoralize and even break all but the most determined people.
Anyone who ever had to deal with Centrelink would know this all too well. People who genuinely needed help were essentially punished for being poor. For a start, the only way to communicate with centrelink, apart from the (in my experience) shitty MyGov portal, is to ring a telephone number, where you will be put on hold for anything from 30min, to one or more hours, and you might not even get to talk to a person, let alone the person who actually knows how to do their job properly, and is across the area of concern that you are calling about.
Some of the time, you would have to go to a centrelink office, where you may have to wait for a long time before you actually get to deal with an officer. There were a number of times where I would be directed to a phone, in the centrelink office, where you will talk with a centrelink person in another office or call centre, who may or may not know how to help you.
If you need to go to the toilet, that's unfortunate. there won't be one in the centrelink office that you are able to use, not when I had to deal with centrelink circa 2010ish. I had to go to the local public library 15-20min walk away, and use the toilet there.
it would be great if things had changed for the better, but I doubt it.
Then there is evil shit like Robodebt, recently proven to be illegal, and refunds paid out to thousands of people, like myself, who were seen as an easy mark to raise revenue. Not only was the 'onus of proof' reversed that a person had been overpaid, it was well nigh impossible to obtain records of forms submitted and such, because in many cases, those records had been destroyed or deleted.
Pay up or FUCK YOU, WE WILL TAKE YOUR MONEY by garnishing your wages, and/or using debt collectors, was the message received loud and clear.
To date, as far as I am aware, no-one responsible for cooking up robodebt or implementing it has been brought to account, let alone any kind of real justice.
I expect the same lack of justice to happen with regard to the egregious and arrogant behaviour of the ATO, in punishing anyone who calls attention to their highly questionable, if not allegedly illegal conduct.
