ACT Greens minister Emma Davidson calls on federal government to drop David McBride charges

ACT Mental Health Minister, and Greens MP, Emma Davidson called on federal Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus on Wednesday to drop the $1.8 million criminal trial against the former army lawyer.

A Federal Court judge ruled last Thursday media reports alleging former SAS soldier Ben Roberts-Smith had murdered, or was involved in murdering, civilians in Afghanistan were substantially true.

Mr McBride will face the ACT Supreme Court in November, more than five years after he was first arrested.

He is on trial for the alleged theft of Commonwealth property, unauthorised disclosure of information and three breaches of the Defence Act.

The charges were laid after McBride, who was deployed to Afghanistan to serve tours in 2011 and 2013, leaked classified documents about alleged war crimes by Australian defence personnel to the ABC, which then published the 2017 series The Afghan Files.

Joined by Mr McBride and Canberra lawyer and former territory attorney-general Bernard Collaery, Ms Davidson repeated the prosecution is not in the public interest.

"I'd really like to see this prosecution dropped," she said.

"I'd really like to see us investing [and] prioritising mental health programs that can support veterans, particularly veterans who served in places like Afghanistan."

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Mr Dreyfus has previously declined to comment or intervene in the case.

The trial against Mr McBride has cost the Commonwealth more than $1.8 million, the Attorney-General's Department revealed earlier this year.

Mr McBride's earlier attempt to claim immunity from criminal prosecution under federal whistleblower protection laws was quashed last October following a last-minute public interest immunity claim by the Commonwealth.

On Wednesday, the whistleblower said the last few years fighting legal battles had been tough on his personal life and finances.

He added he felt the Commonwealth's pursuit of him on national security grounds as misguided.

"All I have done is done my job and they are trying to put me in jail for doing my job," Mr McBride said.

"Nobody really thinks what I revealed about people being murdered 10 years ago in a war we're not even fighting anymore is truly national security. It's national embarrassment."

A suite of public sector whistleblowing reforms are expected to pass the Senate ahead of the July 1 opening on the National Anti-Corruption Commission.

The changes would increase protections for disclosers and enhance watchdog oversight of investigations.