David Shoebridge (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

David McBride and Richard Boyle shouldn't be names we all know because the Albanese government is trying to put them in jail; they should be names we speak with respect and admiration as role models for calling out wrongdoing. Major David McBride spoke out about war crimes by the Australian military in Afghanistan. It's no small thing for someone in the military to do this, and anyone who has had the privilege to stand with David knows that he is a man of deep conviction. He felt he had no other option but to speak out. His concerns about the brutalisation of Afghan people by Australian troops have now been proven terribly, awfully correct.

Richard Boyle saw the tax office using oppressive garnishee orders to recover money from very vulnerable people. He raised his concerns internally and repeatedly and, when nothing was done, he blew the whistle. And he was right to do so, as countless subsequent inquiries, including from this chamber, have found conclusively. This was the tax office robodebt, and while that royal commission has just finished with damning findings against the scheme's authors, Richard is the only one from the tax office facing legal sanction after what happened there.

I'm not one for big statues or worship of individuals, but if there are people that we as a society should value and protect then whistleblowers are surely up there. The continuation of the prosecutions of Richard Boyle and David McBride is entirely a matter for the Attorney-General, Mark Dreyfus. He knows our laws are broken; he said as much. It's the hope of many of us in this place, and millions outside, that the attorney will acknowledge the injustice, do his duty to end the prosecutions and save these two good citizens from jail.