Top barrister Perry Herzfeld joins Human Rights Law Centre team intervening in Richard Boyle case

Tax Office whistleblower Richard Boyle faces 24 counts for the release of protected information after he exposed the ATO's introduction of harsher debt-collection tactics to the media in 2018.

A South Australian court dismissed the former Australian Taxation Office employee's bid to use federal whistleblower protections in March, saying he was not immune from punishment for criminal actions because it was not clearly a part of his public interest disclosure.

Mr Boyle's team will appeal the ruling in a court date set for August 9.

Human Rights Law Centre announced on Thursday it has been granted leave to offer expert opinions in the case it says will have "significant implications for truth and transparency in this country".

Top silk, Perry Herzfeld SC, who has represented the Commonwealth on other high-profile whistleblower cases involving Bernard Collaery and David McBride, will join the team assembled by the human rights advocacy group.

The centre's senior lawyer Kieran Pender said the Commonwealth's pursuit of Mr Boyle was a "vitally important test case".

"Richard Boyle's appeal will determine the strength of protections for all Australian whistleblowers, given similar provisions exist in almost all Australian whistleblower protection laws," he said.

"Boyle faces the spectre of jail for blowing the whistle on government wrongdoing - whistleblowing that has been vindicated by several independent inquiries.

"By exposing human rights abuses, government wrongdoing and corporate misdeeds, whistleblowers make Australia a better place.

"The Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus KC should fix the law and establish a whistleblower protection authority, to ensure that whistleblowers are protected, not punished."

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It comes as amendments to the Public Interest Disclosure Act passed the Senate last week, expanding protections to those who could make a disclosure.

The amendments passed in time for the opening of the new National Anti-Corruption Commission on July 1.

Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said consultations on a second stage of reforms would shortly begin.

Mr Dreyfus said it would look at redrafting the laws to address "the underlying complexity of the scheme and provide effective and accessible protections to public sector whistleblowers".

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