Major David McBride

David McBride studied Law, firstly at Sydney University and then in the UK at Oxford. There he met some British army officers and decided that soldiering was his calling, going on to train at Sandhurst. He commanded a platoon in Northern Ireland while bomb and sniper attacks on British soldiers were still happening.

He has worked as a lawyer, as an MP’s electorate officer, stood as a political federal candidate, in the film/television/radio industry, and was employed in security protecting diplomats, journalists and businesspeople – in Rwanda in the immediate aftermath of the 1994 genocide and in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

After leaving the British Army, David moved back to Sydney. He briefly joined a major law firm and then the Australian Army as a military lawyer, going on to serve two tours of duty in Afghanistan, with Special Forces on the frontline confirming or denying decisions made by soldiers under international laws. During this period in his service David came to believe that something major was wrong with the Australian Defence Force, in that their true aim was only to gain short term public support, rather than the hard business of defending Australia and its interests: that they had become bent out of shape by the influence of their political leaders and their demands for populist measures, whatever that was. On his second tour of Afghanistan with the Special Forces, he made a stand against a number of potential murder investigations which he believed was the punishment of good soldiers in order to cover for the actions of the bad, in other words the sacrifice of good soldiers in order to protect a potential threat to the Minister’s domestic popularity.

As a result of taking this stand, David’s career stalled. He believed he was singled out for harassment through repeated mandatory psychological assessment, or ‘gaslighting’. After making an internal complaint, which was denied, David leaked documents to a number of journalists which in his opinion showed that the Defence Force was ‘broken’ by politics, some of which became the basis of The Afghan Files, an award-winning investigation by the ABC’s 730 show. In 2018, he was charged with offences relating to national security. At his trial in November 2023, defence lawyers argued that David swore an oath to serve his country upon entering the Australian Defence Force plus he had sworn an oath as a lawyer to uphold the law, and, if necessary, take action against threats to Australia’s defence, whether foreign or domestic’. On Day 3 of his trial, representatives of the Australian Government spy agency ASIO entered the court room and removed David’s defence evidence ‘in the interests of national security’. On Day 4, the judge ruled that David’s only ‘duty’ was to follow orders from his commanding officers. These two setbacks left David without a legal defence and he had no choice but to change his plea to guilty. David will be sentenced in the ACT Supreme Court on Monday 6 May.

David is the author of his memoir ‘The Nature of Honour’ published by Penguin Random House and the 2023 Crikey Person of the Year.

David McBride Speaks About:

Facing Adversity

• At aged 7, David was sent to boarding school. It was a rapid lesson in self-reliance, surviving without parents and learning that survival is about making the right alliances.
• He learned at a young age how competitive life can be.
• David’s father had high expectations and this taught him the difficulty of living up to the expectations of others and, more importantly, yourself.
• As a soldier and a lawyer, David faced adversity on a daily basis – in the workplace and on the frontline in wars and conflicts (Northern Ireland, Rwanda, The Congo, Afghanistan)
• Why would soldiers tell the truth when their superiors lie with immunity?
• Whistleblowing … it’s not for the faint-hearted.

Resilience

• What is the ‘three-second memory’? Dealing with the present danger, rather than playing the blame game.
• Having the determination to push beyond your limits. How tough is SAS selection?
• Africa & Afghanistan – reverse racism and working in difficult situations as the outsider
• Whistleblowing – hero or traitor? “Major McBride, what is like to tell on your friends?’
• The long legal battle when the truth is put on trial. Breaking it up in stages and celebrating small wins.
• Dealing with hostile media. Is anything ever off the record?

Leadership

• A fish rots from the head down. Real organisational culture makes a real difference. The same as in the family unit. Bad behaviour at the top infects all levels of the organisation.
• Why ‘Officers eat last’.
• The big differences between leaders in British Army v Australian Army
• Taking responsibility when times get tough
• What does leading by example look like? Stuart Smith – his team were his family … he didn’t throw his people to the wolves.

Life Lessons (from The Nature of Honour)

• The snake
• The power of honesty – the pebble incident
• Living with your conscience
• My father’s fall from grace
• Don’t burn your bridges – play the long game.
• Importance of keeping fit for physical & mental health.