Last Friday, Labor government Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus announced that he was ending the prosecution of Bernard Collaery, a lawyer who had been charged with breaching national security laws by allegedly exposing Australian spying on East Timor.
The end of the prosecution, which was launched in 2018, is no doubt welcome news to Collaery and his supporters.
The 78-year-old, who is a widely-respected barrister and prominent political figure, has been subjected to state harassment and persecution for the best part of a decade. His only supposed “crime” was bringing to light the unlawful actions of the intelligence agencies, as part of Australia’s neo-colonial bullying and thuggery in the Pacific.
Dreyfus’ order, however, will do nothing to end the onslaught against whistleblowers as well as journalists who publish information deemed to be of “national security” significance.
In a press conference outlining the decision, Dreyfus made this plain. “Governments must protect secrets, and this government remains steadfast in our commitment to keep Australians safe by keeping secrets out of the wrong hands,” he declared.
The attorney-general emphasised that he was not establishing any sort of precedent for an end to whistleblower prosecutions. The Collaery case was “exceptional,” he insisted.
The government has given no indication that it will drop other such cases. David McBride, a former military lawyer, is being prosecuted for allegedly exposing Australian war crimes in...
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