Government intruding on press freedom? Let's just keep count

Aug 26, 2020 at 06:52 pm by Staff


Disappointment verging on disbelief has greeted a parliamentary committee's year-long inquiry into press freedom issues in Australia.

Arising from last year's Australian Federal Police raids on the home of a journalist and the ABC, yesterday's 155-page report into 'the impact of the exercise of law enforcement and intelligence powers on the freedom of the press' was more specific about the legal qualifications of public interest advocates and the need to keep count of warrants than on understanding the issues.

The report by inquiry chairman Andrew Hastie (pictured) "acknowledged" the role of a free press, and the perceptions that can arise from investigation or prosecution of journalists and media organisations. It calls for a role for public interest advocates "expanded to consider a broader range of warrant applications that may affect journalists and media organisations in instances of unauthorised disclosure of information".

One questionable recommendation is to establish a "disclosure scheme" for public officials and whistleblowers to avoid them taking concerns to the media in the first place.

Search warrants could be contested by public ­interest advocates and would have to be authorised by a senior judge, but could still be issued without notice. The report also recommended that ASIO should report on each warrant, and that the AFP should tell journalists when they were no longer persons of ­interest.

Media comment so far this morning has been in line with the views of Labor members of the committee: that even after a year and 155 pages, more work needs to be done on a number of issues.

Nine chief executive Hugh Marks described it as "a real missed opportunity" to embrace policies which support government transparency and freedom of the media.

In the report, Labor frontbenchers Kristina Keneally, Mark Dreyfus and ­Michelle Rowland said if warrants had been contestable before a senior judge when the 2019 raids ­occurred, it was "quite possible the outcomes, which caused international embarrassment to Australia, would have been different.

"No journalist should ever face the prospect of being charged or even jailed just for doing their jobs. Law enforcement agencies should never raid journalists just because they are embarrassing the government."

Download the report

Sections: Newsmedia industry

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