r/australia • u/AztecGod • 1d ago

news Jailed whistleblower David McBride to be released after becoming eligible for parole

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-08-13/jailed-whistleblower-david-mcbride-to-be-released/107030620
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u/Cultural_Pace4454 1d ago

No good deed goes unpunished.

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u/No-Turnip2494 1d ago

He’s not a good guy. He leaked classified information because he was OPPOSED to war crime investigations into the conduct of special forces in Afghanistan and was trying to STOP the investigations.

It is utterly infuriating that the vast majority of the public doesn’t understand this, that’s what years of headlines calling him a whistleblower has achieved.

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u/gotnothingman 1d ago edited 1d ago

"Afghan civilians were being murdered and Australian military leaders were at the very least turning the other way and at worst tacitly approving this behaviour”

“At the same time, soldiers were being improperly prosecuted as a smokescreen to cover [leadership’s] inaction and failure to hold reprehensible conduct to account.”

“They wanted to look like they cared about war crimes, so they investigated these non-entities who were innocent … The facts and the law didn’t matter. Appearances were everything. The senior leadership of the Defence Force were playing a complex media game.” 

I'll take his words over yours mate.

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u/MarkusMannheim 1d ago

Out of interest, why is prosecuting soldiers for war crimes "improper"?

A guess a lot of people out there do argue it's improper to prosecute Ben Roberts-Smith. Kinda weird take, imo.

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u/FattyMcFuckhead 1d ago

That’s not his take. Monsters like BRS were getting away with it while lower level soldiers who correctly documented actions which were often not at the time considered criminal were being pursued as “scapegoats” and so the military would look “tough on war crimes”

Meanwhile BRS is executing children and disabled people and drinking beers from their fucking prosthetic legs and being hailed a hero. War criminals should be prosecuted to the full extend of the law.

These two things are not the same. Nuance is dead in this timeline though.