I think this is how secrets are kept. If they even let a single whistleblower go, then all the secrets of the state are “up for grabs”. Courage is contagious, so to speak, so they have to punish it harshly whenever it is seen.
The Prosecution pretty much even said that and worse;
In his summary video, McBride pointed out that the prosecution apparently had no problem with security issues over what he leaked but that it would ruin our international reputation to have had the leak.
ie McBride cannot be excused because other countries couldn’t trust us with their own secrets if we have leakers like McBride potentially leaking those secrets.
And they are making out that McBride’s only motivation was to complain about the prosecution of the lowly soldiers when in fact he was complaining about how only they were investigated while the top brass and government were left untouched.
The Defence Force is trying to give the impression that they are the ones prosecuting war crimes and he is the one protecting war criminals. The ABC are complicit in that false narrative.