The university student who helped expose a secret $60,000 dollar scholarship awarded to Prime Minister Tony Abbott's daughter Frances Abbott has avoided going to jail.
Twenty-one-year old Freya Newman remained silent as she emerged from the Dowling Centre Local Court a free woman today, put on a two year good-behaviour bond.
The whistleblower faced jail time for hacking work computers to expose that the Prime Minister’s daughter paid just over $7,000 for her $68,000 degree, and received the scholarship after just one meeting with Whitehouse Institute owner Leanne Whitehouse.
Magistrate Teresa O'Sullivan said she was satisfied Newman was not driven by greed or any desire to embarrass Ms Abbott.
"I accept she was motivated by a sense of injustice," she told Downing Centre Local Court.
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Education Minister Christopher Pyne tweeted his dissatisfaction with the ruling.
“I'm not convinced the sentence in the Freya Newman case sends a clear message that breaching another's privacy is wrong,” he posted on his account.
In September Ms Newman pleaded guilty to breaching Section 308 (H) of the NSW Crimes Act, after using the log in details of a colleague at the Whitehouse Institute of Design to retrieve Ms Abbott’s records.
Chris Graham, the Editor of New Matilda Magazine which published the revelations online, said he’s relieved with the outcome.
“I don't think the charges should have been pressed in the first place but if you're going to crucify a whistleblower, a section 10 is a good outcome,” he told SBS.
A spokesman for the Prime Minister said: "The matter before the courts has been concluded. Both young women can now get on with their lives".
