ATO chief Chris Jordan launches ABC attack over Four Corners’ ‘mongrel bastards’ episode

Chris Jordan has criticised Four Corners which quoted a company owner referring to the ATO as a “mongrel bunch of bastards”.

Commissioner of Taxation Chris Jordan. Picture: AAP

Australia’s taxation commissioner Chris Jordan has launched a scathing attack on the public broadcaster for a Four Corners episode in April which quoted a company owner attacking the ATO as a “mongrel bunch of bastards”.

Mr Jordan told a Senate estimates hearing in Canberra the ATO believed the story was “contrary to the ABC code of practice and editorial policies” and fundamentally inaccurate. He also issued a strong denial that the ATO deliberately went out of its way to target small businesses.

Mr Jordan argued the Four Corners program failed to meet the basic standards of independence, integrity, accuracy, impartiality and fair and honest dealings.

“I mean, seriously, how appropriate is it to have the title of the Four Corners program ‘A Mongrel Bunch of Bastards’?” Mr Jordan asked. “It is highly offensive and inaccurate”.

“Just think of this for a moment. How would staff of the ABC feel if News Limited splashed across its front pages the ABC was simply a ‘mongrel bunch of bastards’ or that they said the whole of Fairfax is nothing but a ‘mongrel bunch of bastards?”’

“I am sure the indignation would be palpable. So why did the ABC think it was OK to call the staff of the ATO a mongrel bunch of bastards?”

Mr Jordan said the staff at the ATO were “normal people trying to do a good job for the benefit of the country” and did not set out to “systemically destroy small businesses” or pick on “vulnerable people”.

“They certainly don’t slowly boil people until they are roasted to death, and they most certainly do not just make up debts, add 90 per cent penalties and sell people’s homes without them being able to dispute the debt”.

“These are such ridiculous allegations that it beggars belief that the ABC would present them as somehow the result of an investigation”.

Mr Jordan said he could not understand why the ABC would focus on “five or six mostly old cases” that were already known to the ATO.

“In our view there was no real investigation by Four Corners, just a regurgitation of some known, fairly extreme cases to achieve an overblown, sensational story,” he said.

Defending the ATO, Mr Jordan said it had maintained “positive connections” with the small business community and was open to feedback. He also said the ATO had decided to take a number of key actions to assist small businesses.

These included the implementation of improvements to the administration of the Australian Business Register and a change to move objections with ABN cancellations to a new Review and Dispute Resolution area.

The ATO is also trialling an independent review process for some small business audits from July and has asked the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) to review the organisation’s debt collection practices.

“Have there been cases we should look into and see what we can do to resolve issues quicker or circuit-break a process that seems to be bogged down? Yes,” he said. “Is there a systemic problem of abuse of small business? Absolutely not. In fact our relationship with most small businesses, and credible representatives of the small business community is healthy and robust”.

Mr Jordan said that, while he had been Commissioner, no finding of systemic abuse of small business had been found — including in any of the 44 reports and more than 4,700 pages compiled by the Inspector General of Taxation and the ANAO.

“However, none of that fact was mentioned on Four Corners,” he said.

Mr Jordan said that, since the program aired on April 9, the Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman and the Inspector General of Taxation had publicly called for people to come forward with complaints.

“A number of approaches have been received, but only 62 actual complaints have emerged since 9 April from all sources,” he said. “The majority of those came direct to us and we have resolved about half of them so far”.

“Again, I reiterate there has been no systemic issue of abuse found in these complaints”.

The ABC responded to the attack from Mr Jordan by standing by the April 9 Four Corners report, titled “Mongrel Bunch of Bastards”, saying it was the result of a joint investigation by ABC News and Fairfax media.

“(It) was an important story that addressed an issue of real and pressing significance – whistleblower allegations that small business and individuals have been targeted by the Australian Tax Office to meet revenue goals,” the ABC said in a statement. “One business owner who was interviewed expressed the sentiment that became its title”.

The ABC said the report had directly prompted “two separate investigations into the revenue office, by the Treasury and by the independent Inspector-General of Taxation, Ali Naroozi”.

“Despite his criticisms, ATO Commissioner Chris Jordan has announced that he has asked the National Audit Office to review debt collection procedures, and also announced a trial of an independent review process for certain small business audits”.

“The ABC stands by the report. No official complaint has been received from the ATO. If one is received it will be investigated according to our usual procedures”.