![]() When I did that I provided for a statutory review to take place. What more will you do to protect whistleblowers?ĪTTORNEY-GENERAL: We've got a bill in the Parliament now which I regard as the first stage of reform of the Public Interest Disclosure Act which, of course, the last Labor Government with me as Attorney-General brought to the Parliament in 2013. KARVELAS: There are still also concerns, in fact, major concerns, around protections for whistleblowers. There's clearly, if you look at the United States or you look at the United Kingdom, different ways of achieving that objective. KARVELAS: But you will consider the media's calls then?ĪTTORNEY-GENERAL: I'll consider any ideas that land us in the direction of where we wish to be with proper consideration of protecting the public interest and protecting journalists who are just doing their jobs. ![]() I'm making the point though that our starting point is this report by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security from 2020. That's ahead of us, considering where we're going to land on this. And of course, as you've just pointed out, there's media organisations that are suggesting a different process of what's called contested warrants should be considered. They opted for a different route of having public interest advocates involved in the process of issuing warrants. It opted for, on a bipartisan basis, a different approach to making sure that the public interest, that undoubtedly there is in freedom of the press, is protected. Do you think they should be allowed to?ĪTTORNEY-GENERAL: Well, that's not where the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security landed. KARVELAS: Media groups, as you know, are arguing they should be allowed to contest warrants before authorities can carry out a raid. All of these things have got implications for journalists and free media in Australia. And, of course, we're underway with a reform of the Privacy Act, we're underway with a review of secrecy offences. But I'm hopeful of moving on the warrants matter later in this year. It was the start of that conversation yesterday. I've invited journalists and media organisations to put forward further thoughts. You've said you will, so when will we see the changes?ĪTTORNEY-GENERAL: This is the start of a process. KARVELAS: You mentioned all those recommendations, the two committees, the fact that the government did accept those recommendations but didn't ultimately act. As you said, there's a lot of different areas but chief among them is getting a better consideration of public interest on warrant issuing. So, my purpose in having this media roundtable yesterday with journalists and media organisations coming to Parliament House, was to restart a process of reform. There were bipartisan recommendations for change. Sadly, like so much else about the former government, the two Parliamentary inquiries reported and nothing happened. I think there's agreement across the Parliament and across the community about that and that improved protections are overdue. I think most Australians agree that journalists should never face the prospect of being charged just for doing their jobs. It prompted a national outcry and it also prompted a couple of Parliamentary inquiries. How are you going to address these issues?ĪTTORNEY-GENERAL: I think it's good that you're reminding people about what happened in 2019 where we had search warrants executed on the offices of the ABC and the home of an Australian journalist. KARVELAS: There are a whole range of issues on the table here - privacy laws, whistleblower protections, defamation, warrants such as those that were used to raid the ABC and the home of journalist Annika Smethurst in 2019. Welcome to the program.ĪTTORNEY-GENERAL MARK DREYFUS: Morning Patricia. Yesterday the Attorney-General held a meeting with key media figures on how to better protect journalists and their sources and Mark Dreyfus joins me now. It's something journalists and whistleblowers have had to contend with for years when probing people or issues some would prefer to keep in the dark. PATRICIA KARVELAS: Across this country, some people are investigated by authorities for simply trying to do their job. Subjects: Media Freedom Roundtable Whistleblowers The Voice to Parliament
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