Pressure is mounting on the attorney-general to drop the prosecution of a whistleblower who exposed allegations of war crimes before his trial begins.
David McBride is facing five charges relating to the obtaining and disclosure of classified information about alleged misconduct by special forces troops.
Pre-trial arguments started in the ACT Supreme Court on Monday and the trial is expected to last three weeks.
McBride's lawyers contend his duty to disclose allegations of war crimes trumps his duty to abide by defence secrecy provisions.
MPs and human rights advocates continue to call for Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus to drop the prosecution, arguing it's not in the national interest to jail a whistleblower.
Independent MP Helen Haines said the case was happening while there was "a vacuum in whistleblower protection laws".
"He's fallen right into this gap where he doesn't have the protections that most people would expect," she told ABC radio on Tuesday.
"Someone who's done the right thing by blowing the whistle on wrongdoing should be protected.
"The prosecution needs to weigh up the public interest and I think the public interest is served by blowing the whistle on these types of horrendous events."
But Mr Dreyfus said using his powers to drop prosecutions that are conducted independently of the attorney-general's office would set a dangerous precedent of political intervention.
"One of the most important features of our criminal justice system is that the decision to...
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