David McBride pleaded guilty to 3 of his 5 charges after cutting a deal with the prosecutors to end his trial. David McBride didn’t have much choice but to plead guilty given the federal government’s failure to protect whistleblowers and the court whittled away his defence over the last few days.
David McBride’s lawyer has said there is a possibility of an appeal in the below video even though he has pleaded guilty.
Nine reported (17/11/23):
Originally facing five charges, the former military lawyer pleaded guilty to three offences, including stealing Commonwealth information and passing that on to journalists.
The classified documents led to a series of reports alleging Australian special forces troops committed war crimes in Afghanistan.
A later inquiry uncovered credible information of 23 incidents of potential war crimes, which involved the killing of 39 Afghans and cruel treatment of two more between 2005 and 2016.
The report found 25 soldiers were perpetrators or accessories – some on a single occasion and some on multiple. (Click here to read more)
The can be no doubt that David McBride is a war crimes whistleblower and there can be no doubt that the Anthony Albanese federal government, and the government before, have failed to protect him.
David McBride’s lawyers Xenophon Davis posted on Twitter (17/11/23):
A bitter and shocking day for us as the court allowed the government to remove evidence from the courtroom and the defence – despite having a completely secret forum to present it in. This together with the narrow rulings on McBride’s ‘duty’ to follow orders left little option but for pleas to be entered.
Thank you to David’s supporters and those who funded his case. Thanks to the tireless work of his lawyers, Stephen Odgers SC, Emmanuel Kerkyasharian, Paul d’Assumpcao, Mark Davis, Natalija Nikolic, and Jack Vaughan. Also, thanks to Bret Walker SC for his advice and counsel last year.
David is likely to be sentenced next year. It has been an honour to act for him. (Click here to see on Twitter)
Below is video of David McBride and his lawyer Mark Davis after pleading guilty. Mr Davis explains the reasons behind the decision and at the end he says they are investigating an option to appeal even though he pleaded guilty.
The full details of the deal to plead guilty are unknown at this point but David McBride’s agreement with prosecutors might also be in relation to sentencing because it has been reported that the court “ordered an intensive corrections order assessment with plans for a sentencing hearing in the new year”.
Although ordering an intensive corrections order assessment is fairly common. On the ACT Government’s website it says:
Intensive Corrections Order (ICO)
An ICO is a custodial sentence of up to four years that is served in the community. An assessment for suitability is conducted by a Community Corrections Officer who considers the offender’s willingness and ability to comply with the requirements of the order, and undertakes a home visit assessment. Offenders must reside in the ACT to be eligible for an ICO.
Offenders with an ICO may have to undergo regular drug testing and home visits, and will need to apply for permission to leave the ACT. Conditions relating to community service work, curfews, attendance at rehabilitation programs, or reparation, may also be included in an ICO. (Click here to read more)
If David McBride is jailed, will it have an impact on the next federal election?
David McBride’s sentencing hearing will be sometime next year, and the next federal election is due in 2025. If David McBride is jailed, I have no doubt there will a “Free David McBride” movement across the country right up to the next federal election which would humiliate Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and the federal Labor government.
David McBride’s battle is far from over but already he has played a huge part in exposing the lie that Anthony Albanese and the Labor Party protect whistleblowers better than Scott Morrison and the Coalition did. When it comes to protecting whistleblowers, Anthony Albanese is just as deceptive, deceitful and dishonest as Scott Morrison.
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In my eyes this man is a hero, as for Albanese and his gang of misfits and the opposition gang of misfits, they should be the ones facing prison terms, and the judiciary are not much better.
Gotta say I am disappointed that Labor is so often acting just like the Coalition. Something I never thought would happen. Thinking seriously about my lifelong support of Labor
Very disappointed in Labor. Considering my future vote
This is the problem with Australians who developed the “she’ll be right” attitude. They vote for the major parties, either because it runs through the family or they think he/she has a great personality, hoping that their favourite party does their best to improve the country. Then they cry foul when the people running the country have zero interest in actually governing for those that re-elected them in the first place and erode their rights one by one. They were even prepared to keep the Coalition in office for nine years. These are the voters who are selfish and don’t even think about how they want their own children to grow up in their own country. They bring it on themselves, and we all have to suffer because of it.
Not much hope for conscientious objectors if they are prepared to use C19th laws to prosecute dissent in the military.
The default stance should forevermore be this: ALL GOVERNMENTS ARE CORRUPT AND ENGAGE IN CORRUPTION REGULARLY, IF NOT ALWAYS, AND BY THEIR VERY NATURE SHOULD NEVER BE TRUSTED BY ANYONE WITH A REASONABLY THINKING MIND.
Concur with Robert Barnier, in that Labor are not the Government they held themselves out to becoming pre election. Still, they are far superior to the Coalition (not hard). However, there is a notable void in politics at the moment that Australian’s are screaming out to be filled. I do wonder whether there is a need for another Razor Gang period with public servants wielding too much influence, and therefore power, over our elected candidates.
Labor, like the LNP, believe whistleblowers don’t deserve protection. We see this with Julian Assange. To criticise government policy, especially in war time, deserves a punishment. And also for the coming trial of whistleblower Richard Boyle, exposing Tax Office misconduct.
We see the Labor Party, since Howard government, supporting most Liberal policies, either thinking the press will vilify them, and that voters will support them.
We know the $368billion ANZUS attack submarine program was accepted by Labor to avoid media criticism.
We can see by Labor’s first preference vote dropping steadily to 32.58% last election (from Rudd’s 43.3% in 2007) voters certainly don’t support this policy of Labors. Morrisons unpopularity resulted in the LNP losing (and Labor picking up 4 once Liberal electorates with a significant number of Chinese ancestry voters annoyed at the racism Morrison was expressing towards China, and therefore them).
Being in lockstep with Dutton is the plan it seems. And secrecy in government. Certainly for the NACC (Dutton insisted on disclosure to Australians only in ‘exceptional circumstances’). And this latest High Court judgement to free people in detention without end, meant Dutton wrote amendments that Labor supported.
We know in Australian law, any Australian murderer, adult or child rapist receives a sentence and when completed is released. But Labor is too scared to equate this to these other detainees.
It seems Dutton is the leader dictating government policy. In this Albanese Labor government now.
Expect more from our new de facto PM, Dutton, to come.
Every time the Liberals introduced a bill that was dangerous, Labor showed their support for it. Every. Bloody. Time. I will always remember how Labor showed their support for the Assistance and Access Act (anti-encryption law), even though they kept beating their chests on how they were not going to support any rushed legislation and listen to the concerns of the tech industry. They changed their minds at the last minute because they were labelled as supporters of terrorists and pedophiles.
It has always been Labor’s way to support the elected government of the day on all things unless there is likely to be significant danger to the Australian people or the nation. That is exactly what should happen in any Democracy, in other words it is the people who have the say through their vote not some non-elected political group. Unfortunately the Liberals do not respond in a similar way and it has often been said that the Liberals do not support our Democracy for that very reason.
Like many others I am appalled that Labor have not acted to protect McBride and other whistleblowers who are likely to give up their freedom to properly inform the general public of crimes that should not have happened. It raises the question of why they would not do so unless there is more that the general public should know about.
Labour?… Liberal?… Two sides of the one coin… Result: More of the same… We get screwed all the time… Democracy?… Bullshit!
The game is rigged!
Quelle bloody surprise. Just as with the trial of Customs Officer Kessing over the Sydney airport security reports 2005-2009, the Crown withheld exculpatory material. Deja vu allover again.
In 2007 the Labor manifesto used his case as an example of why W/B persecutions needed to cease yet did nothing about it when it came to office and his trial was under Appeal.
As Machiavelli wrote “Put not your trust in princes, my Prince!”
Perhaps the Commonweath could adopt The Lehrmann Standard in relation to future Prosecutions.
You know, where the cops devote massive resources toward proving the Accused isn’t Guilty.
So its OK for the Crown to involve itself in criminal activity and then cover it up and prosecute anyone who wants to bring their corrupt behavior to the attention of the public. The bottom line is that there is no Rule of Law in Australia and we now have anarchy. This is good to know and every decent Australian can now take appropriate action.
If Anthony Albanese is ‘humiliated’ well whose fault is that. So many people wrote letters advocating for whistleblowers and signed petitions asking his government to act and he flat ignored all of it. Said everything you needed to know about yet another issue they campaigned on where they have actually done little to nothing.
The judge is bad.
After almost a decade of poor government, lacking judgement and integrity many hoped for a marked improvement in both areas, but all we are getting is Liberal Lite, and not too lite in this case.
I can understand that certain evidence is deemed inadmissible by virtue of some legal reason. What I fail to understand is how McBride’s defense team, having not been allowed to produce certain documents because an external body (The Defence Department) has deemed them to be a threat to national security, has no option but to plead guilty. I would have thought the only option under these circumstances would be the necessity for the prosecution to drop its case against him. Then again, I’m not a lawyer!
They choose to ignore who they serve. The public do not want whistleblowers to be persecuted and prosecuted. What successive governments and public servants have done to these people is cruel and torturous. They have taken their and their family’s mental health, their financial security and possibly their freedom over years of a slow drip persecution. This is a human rights issue inflicted by those we pay on those who told the truth and left the world a better place for it. Something has to change.
“There can be no faith in government if our highest offices are excused from scrutiny – they should be setting the example of transparency.
I care more about the country than what happens to me. But we can’t allow the law to become a political weapon or agree to scare people away from standing up for their rights, no matter how good the deal. I’m not going to be part of that.”
Edward Snowden
I stand with you David McBride.
This issue has been poorly reported for years.
The Australian newspaper I read spins the whistleblowing as being jealousy of our wonderful heroes who won medals in Afghanistan.