Albanese government to take no action over ABC and The Monthly’s breaches on George Pell article

Despite the public statement of intent from the ABC/The Monthly to publish the Pell material again, the Department of Social Services has decided no further action will be taken.

Late Australian cardinal George Pell. Picture: CNS photo/Robert Duncan

No action will be taken against the ABC for breaching federal laws which carried penalties, including imprisonment, in articles by journalist Louise Milligan about the late Cardinal Pell and child sexual abuse redress scheme.

The Department of Social Services, which administers the National Redress Scheme for victims of institutional child abuse, told the ABC and niche magazine The Monthly on January 31 that the articles published “protected information” which was a criminal offence that carried a possible jail term.

The department’s chief legal counsel said the ABC/The Monthly had also breached “strict privacy requirements” and the department took these matters “very seriously” and “will take whatever steps it considers necessary” to protect the scheme.

“The ABC is now on notice that it has published information that was disclosed to it in circumstances that constitute a criminal offence. There is no journalism exemption in relation to dealings with protected information,” the letter said.

“The (Redress) Act makes it a criminal offence for anyone to, obtain, make a record of, use or disclosure of protected information except where authorised in very limited circumstances,” the letter said.

“It is clear there has been an unauthorised disclosure of protected information to the ABC.”

The department requested: “that the ABC considers removing this article and video from its website, and not using this information in the future”.

The same information and requests, in a separate letter, were made to The Monthly magazine.

“The department takes the protection of information provided or obtained for the purposes of the scheme very seriously and will take whatever steps it considers necessary to achieve this. “Given the ABC have received this information in circumstances that constitute a criminal offence, the department requests the ABC considers removing the article and video from publication, including its website,” the letter said.

“We also request that the ABC considers not using this protected information in the future,” was the final request.

ABC journalist Louise Milligan.

Both the ABC and The Monthly removed the articles and related videos last week from websites and recalled the February print edition of The Monthly and said they had done so to avoid compromising an upcoming court hearing.

And both outlets said they intended to republish the material once the court case was over and made no reference to the federal government’s warning of a criminal breach of the law or request to never publish the material again.

Despite the public statement of intent from the ABC/The Monthly to publish the material again, the Department of Social Services has decided no further action will be taken.

Breaches of confidentiality and privacy are considered “on a case-by-case basis” and because the ABC/The Monthly removed the material that was in breach of the act, the department is taking no further action.