Tax chief Chris Jordan tells ABC: we’re not a ‘mongrel bunch’

Tax commissioner Chris Jordan has ­attack the ABC over a Four Corners episode.

Chris Jordan disputed allegations made by Four Corners . Picture: AAP

Australia’s tax commissioner Chris Jordan has ­attacked the ABC over a Four Corners episode, rejecting suggestions his employees were a “mongrel bunch of bastards”.

Mr Jordan told a Senate estimates hearing in Canberra that the Australian Taxation Office ­believed the Four Corners story last month was “contrary to the ABC code of practice and editorial policies” and fundamentally ­inaccurate.

He denied the ATO had deliberately targeted small businesses, saying it had taken several key ­actions to assist the sector. These included improvements to the administration of the Australian Business Register and moving ­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 to review the organisation’s debt collection practices.

Mr Jordan said since the Four Corners 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.”

He said the Four Corners program failed to meet the basic ­journalistic 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”.

“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?’ ”

Mr Jordan said ATO employees 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”.

The ABC said it stood by the report, which was 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 ATO to meet ­revenue goals,” the ABC said in a statement.

“One business owner … expressed the sentiment that became its title.”

The ABC said the report had 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 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.”

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 4700 pages compiled by the Inspector-General of Taxation and the ANAO. “None of that fact was mentioned on Four Corners,” he said. “I reiterate there has been no systemic issue of abuse found in these complaints.”