David McBride remembers the moment he saw the ABC story that would up-end his life."I knew it was the documents that I'd given them, and I knew then … I was in the frame."The Afghan Files, his seven-part series, gave an unprecedented insight into the conduct of Australia's special forces, including allegations of war crimes."I've finally decided after all this time that it's important that people know the truth about what happened," Oakes says.
"There had been very little or next to nothing reported about allegations of war crimes to that date."I rang David and I said, 'Look I know the story you wanted told… I've decided that's not the story'," Oakes recalls.A few days later, The Afghan Files was published."I knew … that it wouldn't take the defence force too long to work out who had given them their documents," McBride says.
In a full confession to police, McBride admitted giving classified documents to the ABC. Oakes also became a target. Police tracked down the journalist's flight records through Qantas, alleging he'd travelled to Canberra to meet McBride. On June 5, 2019, the AFP turned up at the ABC Sydney offices with a search warrant. It was an unprecedented moment in Australian media history which made news around the world."My first reaction was, what are they going to find and what are they going to do with it," Oakes says.
"You could say in the most technical sense that he did help expose war crimes… but that wasn't his intention.