Whistleblower David McBride's appeal of his sentence begins

A former defence force employee sentenced to prison for illegally disclosing sensitive information has launched an appeal.

David McBride, who was sentenced to a non-parole period of two years and three months after pleading guilty, will argue for his release in the ACT Court of Appeal this week.

In a post to social media, McBride’s team said they are undertaking “painstaking work” in his defence, and continue to maintain his actions were in the public interest.

Background

McBride joined the Australian Defence Force (ADF) in 2009 as a Special Operations legal officer. He was deployed to Afghanistan in 2011 and 2013.

While there, McBride became concerned that the ADF was improperly investigating soldiers who hadn’t done anything wrong.

He first tried to raise the alarm internally with the ADF. Next, he went to the Australian Federal Police (AFP). After that, he went to the Defence Minister.

When those attempts failed, McBride went to the ABC.

McBride believed the materials he provided to the ABC demonstrated improper investigations of ADF soldiers.

However, the documents also contained evidence suggesting that Australian soldiers had allegedly committed war crimes.

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These allegations were used by the ABC in their reporting.

The Trial

In 2018, McBride was charged with offences relating to national security. McBride did not dispute that he leaked the material, but argued it was his duty to report alleged illegal conduct because it was in the public interest.

McBride intended to fight the charges, but early in the trial the court ruled certain evidence could not be used because it could jeopardise “the security and defence of Australia”.

This resulted in McBride pleading guilty to three charges, including theft and sharing documents classified as secret with members of the press.

Appeal

At the time of his sentencing, McBride’s lawyers said they would launch an appeal.

Proceedings began in the ACT Court of Appeal on Monday, with supporters rallying outside.

In a statement, the Human Rights Law Centre said: “McBride is the first whistleblower to be imprisoned in recent memory in Australia and [many] have expressed ongoing concern about the chilling effect [his] imprisonment is having on future whistleblowers speaking out to expose wrongdoing.”