Australian whistleblower David McBride freed from Canberra prison after parole approval
Whistleblower David McBride has walked out of a Canberra prison after Attorney-General Michelle Rowland approved his parole, ending more than two ...
Australian whistleblower David McBride has walked out of a Canberra prison after Attorney-General Michelle Rowland approved his parole, ending more than two years behind bars. The former military lawyer, whose leaks helped trigger scrutiny of Australia’s conduct in Afghanistan, was released on Thursday morning.
McBride said in a statement that he was grateful to Rowland and revealed he is being treated for early-stage lung cancer and will need surgery. He had become eligible for parole on Thursday after serving his full non-parole period of 27 months.
Leaks that shook Australia
McBride was convicted in 2024 of stealing and sharing top-secret defence material with journalists. He pleaded guilty to three charges after a Commonwealth intervention blocked evidence the government said could have threatened national security.
The former army lawyer said he acted out of a belief that soldiers in Afghanistan were being over-investigated. The case moved in the opposite direction. Reporting based on the material he passed to the ABC, known as The Afghan Files, later exposed allegations that Australian soldiers had been involved in illegal killings.
He was sentenced in May 2024 to five years and eight months in jail by the ACT Supreme Court. Under parole conditions, he will serve the remaining three years of his sentence in the community under supervision.
Pressure over whistleblower protections
The case has long divided Australia. Supporters cast McBride as a whistleblower punished for bringing wrongdoing into the open. Critics saw a former military insider who broke the law by taking classified files. His imprisonment also renewed debate over how governments handle leaks tied to alleged war crimes and the limits of whistleblower protection laws.
McBride’s release comes after repeated calls for his freedom and after a separate legal process determined he had served long enough to be considered for parole. A spokesperson for the attorney-general said his parole was “considered and granted” and declined to comment further on the individual case.
In a statement sent through the Information Rights Project, McBride thanked his family, supporters and fellow prisoners at ACT Corrective Services, saying their humour, respect and character would stay with him. His next steps now sit under supervision — and under the shadow of the surgery ahead.
