In an 11th-hour application to the Court of Appeal,represented by ACT Supreme Court Chief Justice Lucy McCallum,McBride’s barrister,Stephen Odgers,SC,said McBride’s “only real argument” was that he believed he did the right thing in leaking the documents,and there was sufficient basis to raise it with the higher court.
“It may well mean he has no alternative but to plead guilty,” Odgers said of the potential outcome if McCallum ruled against the application.
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“There is likely to be significant public interest,and there may well be significant public concern,that it has been held by the ACT Supreme Court that a member of the Australian Defence Force must obey lawful orders,no matter how unreasonable or in breach of fundamental principles of justice they may be,and will commit a criminal offence if he does not.”
But McCallum rejected the application,which she described as “ambitious”,as well as a bid to halt the trial,saying she wasn’t persuaded there was sufficient doubt about the ruling of Supreme Court Justice David Mossop to interrupt the pending trial,scheduled to begin on Monday.
“It is enough to say that his Honour’s ruling on that issue is not obviously wrong,” McCallum said.
McBride has been charged with five offences relating to his disclosure of protected information to journalists,who used it to publish allegations of war crimes by Australian soldiers in Afghanistan.