Australian Atheists Forum

Richard Boyle, a former Australian Taxation Office employee, is fighting 24 charges after he leaked information revealing the tax office’s debt recovery tactics.

David McBride, the former army lawyer who provided the ABC with official documents relating to alleged war crimes in Afghanistan, could face imprisonment when his trial begins in November.

A group of 30 crossbench MPs and senators, led by independent Andrew Wilkie and joined by Liberal MP Bridget Archer, on Wednesday morning warned the prosecutions were at odds with the public interest.

In a letter to the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, the attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, the deputy PM and defence minister, Richard Marles, and the minister for the public service, Katy Gallagher, the group called on the federal government to “act before it is too late and the unthinkable happens”.

“It would be tragic if Mr McBride and Mr Boyle are convicted and imprisoned – locked up for doing the right thing by blowing the whistle and speaking up about wrongdoing in government.

“That would be a stain on Australia’s international reputation and would undermine our ability to call out the prosecution of dissidents and truth-tellers in other countries.”

The group also demanded the federal government establish a standalone whistleblower protection agency before the end of its term, describing it as “the missing piece” of the recently established National Anti-Corruption Commission.

The Government has released its ‘Review into Secrecy Provisions’ whose fine print contains the greatest assault on democracy and accountability in many years, writes Rex Patrick.

Secrecy is woven into the fabric of the Australian Government. There are eleven general secrecy offences in the criminal code, 295 non-disclosure duties in 102 laws that attract criminal liability, and 569 specific secrecy offences in 183 laws.

A rationalisation and a review of secrecy laws was long overdue.

But buried in this review is a bombshell. Carried out by the Attorney-General’s Department, the review report makes a key recommendation that disclosure of information that could cause a loss of trust in Government should be criminalised.

Paragraph 146 states:

“… disclosure of information that harms the effective working of Government undermines the Australian community’s trust in government and the ability of Commonwealth departments and agencies to deliver policies and programs. It is appropriate that conduct which causes or is likely to cause prejudice to the effective working of government be covered [by secrecy provisions enforceable under the criminal code]”

The national security bureaucrats’ view seems to be that secrecy is essential to ensure trust in government!

David McBride, a former Australian soldier and military lawyer, had little choice but to plead guilty to criminal charges including theft of property from a Commonwealth entity and unlawfully giving away defence information after his planned public interest defence – that he was acting in the public interest when he released information to the media – was refused by the court, delivering a “fatal blow” to his prospects of an acquittal.

An appeal against that ruling also subsequently failed, with Justice David Mossop determining that certain documents, if released, had the potential to jeopardise “the security and defence of Australia” and can therefore not be used by the parties.

Essentially, the court ruled that Mr McBride’s obligation not to disclose credible information about war crimes committed by Australian soldiers in Afghanistan superseded any duty to act in the interests of the Australian people by letting them know what was being done in their name.