David Speers: Freedoms that underpin our democracy are at risk

By raiding the media, the AFP have put the freedom of press at risk, writes David Speers. They also ended the Morrison government’s post-election honeymoon. Now the government must be accountable.

The Australian Federal Police really couldn’t have chosen a worse week for their overzealous crackdown on the Australian media; a week in which we’ve remembered the sacrifices made for our democratic freedoms and the sacrifices made by others who’ve sought them.

Thursday marked the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings, which began the liberation of France from Nazi control.

It was a historic victory for freedom.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison went all the way to Portsmouth to join world leaders in acknowledging the moment.

RELATED FROM RENDEZVIEW: Raids on media have no place in our democracy

Tuesday marked the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, in which the Chinese Government ordered the slaughter of an unknown number of pro-democracy protesters in the heart of Beijing.

This was a historic defeat for freedom.

The Prime Minister said little about this anniversary and was careful not to offend China when he did.

RELATED FROM RENDEZVIEW: ‘Today’s China has lost its soul and integrity’

Against the backdrop of these anniversaries, the normally highly respected AFP chose to put at risk one of Australia’s most fundamental democratic freedoms, the freedom of the press, by carrying out two sensational raids on journalists.

While the media outlets were being raided back home, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison joined world leaders to commemorate D-Day. Picture: Jack Hill/AFP

On Tuesday, a team of AFP officers spent more than seven hours rifling through the home of News Corp Australia journalist Annika Smethurst.

They were looking for the source of a story Smethurst wrote 14 months ago, which cited classified documents relating to new powers being considered for the Australian Signals Directorate to spy on Australians.

The government insisted the story was wrong at the time, but the classified documents were very real.

RELATED FROM RENDEZVIEW: Annika Smethurst raid was more than an invasion of privacy

On Wednesday, another team of AFP officers spent more than eight hours going through the ABC’s database at headquarters in Sydney and downloading more than one hundred files.

They were looking for the source of a series of stories broadcast in 2017 known as the “Afghan Files” by investigative journalists Dan Oakes and Sam Clark.

The stories revealed allegations of unlawful killings and misconduct by Australian special forces.

In both cases, these were stories Australians deserved to know about.

These were journalists doing their jobs. But these are journalists who could now face jail time.

Acting AFP Commissioner Neil Gaughan denied that raids on media were an act of intimidation, but said journalists could be charged. Picture: Kym Smith/News Corp Australia

The heavy-handed raids, particularly the scouring of Smethurst’s own home, clearly intimidate all journalists and their sources.

So does the threat of prosecution for both leaking and publishing classified information, even when it’s in the public’s interest to do so.

Acting AFP Commissioner Neil Gaughan tried to pretend otherwise at a press conference on Thursday.

“I reject the claim over the last few days we’re trying to intimidate journalists or conduct a campaign against the media,” he said.

It was a breathtaking denial of reality.

He then went on to confirm at the very same press conference that the journalists could still be charged.

“I’m not going to rule in or rule out anyone subject to further charges.”

So the AFP is prepared to spend seven hours rifling through a journalist’s home and threaten them with jail and that’s not intimidation?

The AFP clearly has a duty to investigate security breaches, but it also has to use its discretion.

Morrison also showed little immediate concern about how these raids might undermine a central democratic tenet; press freedom.

“It never troubles me that our laws are being upheld,” he said when asked if police raiding a journalist’s homes bothered him.

By the end of the week, after it was clear this firestorm wasn’t going away, Morrison was declaring his firm support for a free press, sympathising with journalists who had been through a “very upsetting and a very anxious and concerning event” and insisting neither he nor his ministers had any idea these raids were going to take place.

The question now is what, if anything, the government will do to strengthen protections for the media and for whistleblowers, to ensure this doesn’t happen again.

An enormous amount of energy is about to go into legislating protections for religious freedom. Will any energy be spent protecting press freedom?

The Morrison Government is still in a post-election honeymoon phase, but this week was a reminder that being in government means being accountable.

The election campaign and its immediate aftermath were largely focused on Labor. Bill Shorten’s high-risk policy agenda and then Anthony Albanese’s ascension to the leadership.

This week, for the first time in a long while, the focus was back on the government as weak economic data and the raids on journalists dominated the news.

Whether it likes it or not, the government is accountable for what happens on its watch. It’s also responsible for safeguarding the freedoms that underpin our democracy.

After all, these are the same freedoms fought for successfully on D-Day and unsuccessfully at Tiananmen Square.

David Speers is Sky News political editor.

@david_speers