Whistleblower David McBride sentenced to almost six years’ prison for helping to expose wrongdoing
NEWS | Democratic Freedoms
David McBride was given a sentence of five years and eight months, with a non-parole period of two years and three months for leaking documents to the ABC which exposed war crimes in Afghanistan.
David McBride speaking to press pack before heading into ACT Supreme Court.
Whistleblowers make Australia a better place, ensuring accountability and justice by exposing government wrongdoing and corporate misdeeds. They are vital to our democracy.
This is why the Human Rights Law Centre advocates for an end to the unjust treatment of whistleblowers and launched the Whistleblower Project, Australia’s only dedicated legal service for whistleblowers.
But on 14 May 2024, military whistleblower David McBride was sentenced to almost six years’ imprisonment by the ACT Supreme Court. It is a dark day for truth and justice in Australia.
David leaked documents to the ABC, which led to the Afghan Files reporting – which showed credible evidence of war crimes committed by Australian forces in Afghanistan. It was public interest journalism at its finest. And yet on Tuesday, the first person imprisoned in relation to Australia’s war crimes was not a war criminal, but the whistleblower.
McBride is the first whistleblower to be imprisoned in recent memory in Australia. Witness K, who exposed Australia’s spying against Timor-Leste, was given a suspended sentence; the prosecution of his lawyer, Bernard Collaery, was rightly dropped after the Albanese Government took office. Tax office whistleblower Richard Boyle will face trial in September.
We have been vocal advocates against these prosecutions, because we see first-hand the chilling effect of prosecuting rather than protecting whistleblowers.
As Australia’s only legal service for whistleblowers, we hear from our clients about their fears of speaking up, fuelled by these high-profile prosecutions. And all of us suffer as a result, when people can’t speak up about wrongdoing they witness.
With your support, we will continue calling out the prosecution of whistleblowers, advocating for law reform (including the establishment of a whistleblower protection authority) and providing expert legal advice to whistleblowers.
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In March, Associate Legal Director, Kieran Pender was at the ACT Court of Appeal to observe McBride’s appeal – he is challenging his conviction, and the severity of his sentence.
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