Crossbenchers and Bridget Archer call for David McBride to be pardoned.
A group of 29 federal crossbenchers and Tasmanian Liberal MP Bridget Archer have written a letter to the Albanese government calling for it to request a full #pardon for jailed military lawyer #DavidMcBride.
On Tuesday, McBride was sentenced to prison for five years and eight months for taking classified defence documents about the war in Afghanistan from his former employer, the Australian defence force, and leaking them to ABC journalists.
The documents formed the basis for the ABC investigative series, The Afghan Files, which revealed #warcrimes committed by Australian soldiers. McBride will serve at least two years and three months in a Canberra jail as part of his non-parole period.
The letter, sent on Thursday, urges the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, and the attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, to advise the governor-general to grant McBride a full pardon to “end this injustice”.
“In 2020, prime minister, you told media outlet Crikey, in relation to the Collaery prosecution, ‘the idea that there should be a prosecution of a whistleblower, for what’s a shameful part of Australia’s history, is simply wrong’. It is equally shameful that the first person imprisoned in relation to Australia’s war crimes in Afghanistan is not a war criminal but the source of the Afghan Files reporting, journalism that was undeniably in the public interest.”
The letter also calls for the prosecution of former tax employee, #RichardBoyle, to end. Boyle spoke out internally, then to an independent watchdog and then to the media in 2018 about the Australian Taxation Office’s aggressive pursuit of tax debts from small businesses, which he said was destroying lives and causing unnecessary trauma to help the agency meet revenue goals.
Boyle is awaiting an appeal decision about whether he can use federal #whistleblower protection laws to gain immunity from his charges.
The group is also calling for Labor to commit to overhauling #whistleblowing laws this term, including work to establish a whistleblower #protection commission by next year. #auspol
Whistleblower protections for all Australians who speak up about wrongdoing are being put to the test in the court of appeal today. TODAY! This is a landmark test case. If you think this doesn’t concern you, it should! #RichardBoyle#HumanRights#WhistleblowerProtections