As you would be aware, Witness K was sentenced to a three month suspended sentence and a 12 month good behaviour bond. Cynthia Kardell, National President of Whistleblowers Australia, wrote an email to members about Witness K and it is worth reproducing some of it here –
“Yes, our mealy-mouthed, lying hound of a government has continued to say one thing in court behind closed doors and another to us, in public. Yes, it relies on our intelligence and security laws to do that and yes, everything about that is wrong, wrong, wrong. Both for whistleblowers and every one of us. But there’s no getting away from the fact that K, with Collaery’s help ‘got his man’ in a way that most whistleblowers only dream about…
“Because ‘but for’ Witness K and Collaery Timor L’este would have been robbed of billions upon billions of dollars in gas revenue over the next 50 years. … And we can hold our heads up high, knowing that whistleblowing has got to be the best thing since sliced bread and vital for the life and good health of our nation and that of our neighbour Timor L’este.”
She really hits the nail on the head! I do recommend joining Whistleblowers Australia, it is a great organisation which covers the broader topic of whistleblowers and tells many whistleblower stories that deserve to be known.
Welcome news that the ACT Bar Association has put out a media release, The ACT Bar supports a reconsideration of the prosecution of Bernard Collaery, 1 July 2021. I wish the CDPP would listen to this advice. You might like to ring or email the CDPP and ask politely what is the public interest in continuing with the prosecutions of Bernard Collaery and David McBride. I think the only likely reason they could give is to deter others in public service from divulging information, but when divulging information is revealing misdeeds or crimes, deterrence is surely the exactly wrong thing the law should be doing. They need rewards, not punishment. And don’t give us the excuse of National Security – it is the bugging that is harming national security, not the exposure of the bugging.
There have been so many articles over the last month or so, there too many to link here, but they can be found at https://aapp.ipan.org.au. Here’s one of the latest –
Christopher Knaus, Sailor, spy, whistleblower, grandfather: the life of Witness K revealed in court documents, the Guardian, 4 July.
Others are articles in newspapers/ media overseas – Australia’s reputation as a law abiding country is being trashed by these prosecutions. Here’s three of interest –
Assoc Prof Murray Hunter, Under cover of National Security – Whistle-blowers become scapegoats for mismanagement, misdeeds, and vested interests, eurasiareview, 24 June, 2021
Associated Press, Australia accused of ‘excessive’ secrecy, Texakarna Gazette, 22 June 2021. Texakarna is a small town crossing the Texas-Kansas border.
John Lyons, Australia is at war with journalists, The Washington Post, 11 June 2021.
Again, please look at our aapp.ipan.org.au website for all the articles over the past month, there have been too many to mention here, which is great!
And news re Julian Assange’s case, Key witness in Assange case admits to lies in indictment, Stundin, 26 June
Also Australian MPs have called on Biden to drop the charges against Assange, see aapp website for details.
We’ll let you know when we hear anything about the decision on Bernard’s appeal – we will rally at the courts at that time.
And a date for your diary, David McBride’s public interest defence hearing is on 20 September.
The MAPW Fundraising dinner, scheduled for Fri 9 July at Ainslie FC with speaker, David McBride, has been postponed due to COVID and David’s lockdown in Sydney. The new date will be advised.