{"id":1942,"date":"2019-08-16T09:38:29","date_gmt":"2019-08-15T23:38:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/testblogs.griffith.edu.au\/gci-insights\/?p=1942"},"modified":"2019-11-11T13:21:26","modified_gmt":"2019-11-11T03:21:26","slug":"press-freedom-in-australia-needs-much-more-than-piecemeal-protection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/testblogs.griffith.edu.au\/gci-insights\/2019\/08\/16\/press-freedom-in-australia-needs-much-more-than-piecemeal-protection\/","title":{"rendered":"Press freedom in Australia needs much more than piecemeal protection"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Keiran Hardy<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article first appeared on The Interpreter<\/a><\/em>, published by the Lowy Institute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This week in the Australian\nparliament, the Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security held the first\npublic hearing for its inquiry into press freedom<\/a>.\nThe inquiry follows raids in June by the Australian Federal Police on the home of a News Corporation\njournalist<\/a> and the offices of the national broadcaster\nABC<\/a>, although the committee\u2019s remit is to examine more broadly the\nimpact of national security laws on press freedom in Australia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The committee is chaired by Andrew\nHastie, who recently spoke out about the growing threat\nfrom China<\/a>. It comprises members from both major parties, including\nformer Human Rights Commissioner Tim Wilson, Shadow Attorney-General Mark\nDreyfus, and Shadow Home Affairs Minister Kristina Keneally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The inquiry provides an opportunity for the federal government to consider the impact of Australia\u2019s many counter-terrorism laws and to strengthen the right of all Australians to a free press. Press freedom falls under obligations in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and is considered by the United Nations Human Rights Committee to be \u201cone of the cornerstones of a democratic society\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, Australian law does\nnot currently provide clear and unambiguous protection for freedom of the\npress, or freedom of speech more generally. Australia remains the only\ndemocratic nation without constitutional or statutory protection of human\nrights at the national level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The other Five Eyes intelligence-sharing partners provide useful models. Australia is along among this group in having no explicit protection for journalists in the exercise of search warrants by police.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

A recent decision by the High Court<\/a> confirmed\nthat the freedom of political communication, implied from sections 7 and 24 of\nthe Australian Constitution, is not the same as having an individual right to\nfreedom of speech. And while Freedom of Information laws provide some means to\ncompel government transparency, their effectiveness has come under recent fire<\/a> for\nlong delays, understaffing, and unnecessary secrecy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the 9\/11 attacks, Australia has\nenacted 75 laws related to terrorism. Many of these have an impact on the\nability of media organisations to report freely on national security matters.\nMuch of the discussion in the committee hearing focused on recent laws,\nincluding the metadata regime<\/a> and\nthe Espionage and Foreign Interference Act<\/a><\/em>.\nHowever, many others are relevant and should be examined, including disclosure\noffences attached to Preventative Detention Orders<\/a> and ASIO\u2019s controversial detention warrant\npowers<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of these laws were enacted very\nquickly in response to a terrorist incident or developing threat, such as 9\/11,\nthe 2005 London bombings, or the threat posed by ISIS. The result is a\nsubstantial body of offences and powers, all with different requirements,\npenalties and procedures. Designing an appropriate model to protect press\nfreedom in these circumstances is a difficult task.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One solution to provide greater\nprotection for press freedom would be a \u201cMedia Freedom Act<\/a>\u201d. This\ncould amend various disclosure offences to allow the publication of information\nin the public interest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \u201cpublic interest\u201d could either be\nleft undefined, so that the meaning of this term could be determined by a\ncourt, or it could be defined more narrowly. A narrower definition would allow\njournalists to publish sensitive information leaked to them by government\nofficials only where that information plainly reveals some substantial wrongdoing\nor illegal behaviour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The committee will also need to\ndetermine who<\/em> should be able to claim these protections. If\nthe protections only extend to established media organisations, such as the\nABC, Channel 10 or Newscorp, many freelancers or journalists-in-training may\nstill fall foul of the law. If journalism is defined broadly, however, then\npotentially anyone could claim protection for posting sensitive\nnational-security information online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The other Five Eyes<\/a> intelligence-sharing\npartners (the UK, US, Canada, and New Zealand) provide useful models. Australia\nis alone among this group in having no explicit protection for journalists in the\nexercise of search warrants by police. This is only one aspect, though a major\none, of the current inquiry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In New Zealand, journalistic sources\nare treated as privileged information, and journalists must be given an opportunity to claim that privilege<\/a>,\nfirstly to police and then, if needed, in a courtroom. In the UK, a special procedure<\/a> involving contested\nhearings and a public interest test applies before journalistic information can\nbe seized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the United States, due to the\nFirst and Fourth amendments to the US Constitution, the starting point is\nthat newsroom raids are unlawful<\/a>.\nA search is permissible only if the information relates to national defence,\nhas a security classification, or is restricted data, or if the seizure of\ndocuments is necessary to prevent death or serious bodily injury. This firewall\nremains in place even in the face of the aggressive pursuit<\/a> of\ngovernment leakers and whistle-blowers under the Obama administration,\nand continuing<\/a> under the\ncurrent one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Canada, journalistic documents\nseized by police may be kept in the custody of the court<\/a>,\nand journalists may make submissions to have the documents returned. The court\napplies a twofold test: whether the public interest in pursuing the\ninvestigation outweighs the journalist\u2019s right to privacy, and whether the\ninformation can be obtained through other means.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The starting point in these countries is very different because they\neach have national protection for human rights, including freedom of speech.\nFor Australia to no longer be the odd one out, many of its national security\nlaws needs to be amended to protect press freedom. Such amendments will ultimately\nbe a piecemeal solution, and the issues may not be fully resolved until there\nis stronger national protection for human rights.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Keiran Hardy This article first appeared on The Interpreter, published by the Lowy Institute. This week in the Australian parliament, the Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security held the first public hearing for its inquiry into press freedom. The inquiry follows raids in June by the Australian Federal Police on the home of a News CorporationContinue reading “Press freedom in Australia needs much more than piecemeal protection”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":74,"featured_media":1951,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[73,2],"tags":[60,63],"class_list":["post-1942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-press-freedom","category-spotlights","tag-national-security","tag-press-freedom"],"acf":[],"modified_by":"Keiran Hardy","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/testblogs.griffith.edu.au\/gci-insights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2019\/08\/hongkong-3623060_1280.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paNLK1-vk","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2259,"url":"https:\/\/testblogs.griffith.edu.au\/gci-insights\/2020\/02\/19\/federal-court-decision-confirms-need-for-urgent-law-reform-to-protect-journalists\/","url_meta":{"origin":1942,"position":0},"title":"Federal court decision confirms need for urgent law reform to protect journalists","author":"Keiran Hardy","date":"February 19, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"By Keiran Hardy On Monday, the Federal Court of Australia upheld as valid the search warrant which allowed the AFP to raid the ABC\u2019s Sydney offices last year. 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