The Labor government is pushing through laws that would require accountants to disclose their personal mental health issues despite strong objections, Daily Mail Australia can reveal.
Now former Australian of the Year and leading mental health expert Professor Patrick McGorry has weighed in, condemning the changes and calling on the government to reverse its decision.
Professor McGorry “supports the clarification in the Determination that tax agents should not be required to disclose their mental health history or status.”
A determination is a legal instrument used to change the law.
Stephen Jones, deputy treasurer and a factional ally of Anthony Albanese, is pushing for the change, which is before the Senate.
It would require tax professionals to disclose “any” matter that might influence a client to hire their services.
This could include someone’s mental health history, perhaps even their religion or sexual orientation, which must be disclosed to clients.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been informed of the problem but has failed to resolve it.
But Labour appears to be in denial about the implications of its changes and refuses even to acknowledge the unintended consequences they are creating.
Peter de Cure, chairman of the Tax Practitioners Board (TPB), which is responsible for enforcing the rules, has said mental health “could possibly be relevant” as a disclosure matter.
The Prime Minister’s Office did not respond to Daily Mail Australia’s questions when asked directly whether the TPB chairman was wrong to say accountants might have to disclose information about mental health.
Former Australian of the Year Patrick McGorry has condemned the change
Strange rules could require an accountant battling depression to disclose his condition to a worker trying to complete his tax return.
It may be necessary to inform a pro-Palestinian client that his or her accountant is Jewish if the tax professional believes that this would influence the client’s decision to engage his or her services.
That could also be the case for a married same-sex accountant who is asked to do the tax returns for a religiously conservative client who is known to have been vocal on the issue.
“These rules are so poorly written that the Labor Party should be ashamed of itself,” one accountant, who wished to remain anonymous, told Daily Mail Australia.
While neither of these scenarios is the intended purpose of the new laws, the government will not change their open-ended wording, even though practitioners say changes could easily be made.
This is why tax professionals are advocating for the determination to be modified or eliminated altogether.
Accountants may have to disclose their mental health history, sexual orientation or complaints against them to their clients, if applicable, making tax time incredibly awkward.
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister has been informed of the problem but will do nothing to resolve it.
This is despite accountants Daily Mail Australia has spoken to saying the uncertainty surrounding the changes is already affecting their health and wellbeing.
The changes being made will also require accountants to disclose any allegations made against them to all of their clients, in writing, before the veracity of the allegations has been verified and before any findings have been made.
No other profession requires allegations to be made public before the results are known in this way.
And when Labor set up its new federal anti-corruption body, it refused to allow allegations made to the watchdog to become public before investigations and findings were complete, saying it did not want MPs and senators to be unfairly tarnished by unproven allegations.
Labour’s changes are not giving accountants the same protections.
The sector says this could negatively impact tax professionals who are unfairly accused.
Last year the TPB upheld just seven per cent of allegations of wrongdoing made against accountants, but under Labour’s rule changes the other 93 per cent who did nothing wrong will be forced to inform their clients in writing of the outrageous allegations made against them, crippling their business.
“Can you imagine how damaging that would be?” one accountant told the Daily Mail Australia.
That is why the accountancy profession – not known for its passion – is outraged by the Labour government’s changes and is calling on opposition and independent groups to block them.