Governments ‘will be held accountable for ABC, News Corp raids’

Warning issued that governments will be held accountable, as ABC boss sees “no political agenda’’.

Former Editor-in-Chief of The Australian, Chris Mitchell, says the stories by News Corp journalist Annika Smethhurst and the ABC being investigated by police were clearly in the public interest.

The former editor-in-chief of The Australian Chris Mitchell has condemned the AFP raids on a News Corp journalist and the ABC, warning that such behaviour invariably backfires on governments.

The comments come as ABC Managing director David Anderson said he saw no evidence of a “political agenda” behind the raids, and neither he nor new chair Ita Buttrose had contacted the federal government about their concerns.

Mr Mitchell, who was editor-in-chief of The Australian for over a decade, had newspaper offices and homes of reporters raided numerous times during his time as editor of The Australian and the The Courier-Mail.

The former editor-in-chief said the stories by News Corp journalist Annika Smethhurst and the ABC being investigated by police were clearly in the public interest and warned governments would be held accountable for AFP raids.

“Such raids are not new, and they almost always backfire on governments

and on the AFP,” he told The Australian.

“In the ABC matter, the whistle blower is known and has explained his motives, which were clearly in the national interest. In the Smethurst matter, revelations of a plan discussed by the National Security Committee of Cabinet were clearly in the public interest.”

Both Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton have denied prior knowledge of the raids or that they were taking place under instruction from the government.

“I think it’s important to understand what is occurring here and that is, a process of investigations being pursued by independent law enforcement agency, and they are acting in accordance with the laws that govern their behaviour,” Mr Morrison told reporters in London.

“And that is done at arm’s length from the government. This is not a matter that has been directed or in any way involves government ministers and it would be inappropriate if it did.’’

ABC managing director David Anderson said he saw no evidence of a government intervention in the raids.

“I don’t see any evidence of political agenda here,’’Mr Anderson told Radio National this morning. “What I do see is the AFP operating independently. I don’t know who referred it to the AFP, but what I do know is that freedom of the press is central to our democracy,”

“I know just how important it is that we can report on what we need to report on, and we protect our sources and we protect whistle blowers that come to us with information. We do the due diligence we have to do, we have the law, we have editorial policies, standards of objective journalism that we go through before publishing this. How that got to the AFP? I don’t know.”

Mr Anderson said he was in Brisbane yesterday for an ABC board meeting with new ABC chair Ita Buttrose. Mr Anderson said neither he nor Ms Buttrose had contacted the government or opposition about the raids.

ABC Managing Director David Anderson.

“I can’t speak on behalf of the chair, I was in Brisbane yesterday with the chair — we had an ABC Board meeting yesterday — we have discussed it ourselves and we were tied up in the board meeting while these events were playing out.

“I haven’t spoken to any government members, ministers, shadow or otherwise.”

“This has a long way to go. Having just happened yesterday, Ita and I will have a chat about what it is that we do next.”

However, Mr Mitchell has said that invariably someone in government bears responsibility for the raids.

“The Opposition spokesman on legal matters, Mark Dreyfus, is correct in saying the government is responsible. Such AFP raids are always driven by Cabinet ministers and authorised by the attorney general of the day. News, the ABC and 2GB should challenge these raids and their authorising warrants in the courts.”

Among numerous incidents, Mr Mitchell was editor-in-chief of The Australian during its Gold Walkley Award winning coverage of the wrongful arrest and detainment by the AFP of Indian student Mohamed Haneef on terrorism related charges.

Mr Mitchell estimates he had offices raided five times while editor of The Australian and The Courier-Mail.

Mr Mitchell recounted an incident in Queensland of one reporter having his house turned upside down by police during a dawn raid and then, as editor, being threatened by a minister.

“Such raids are used by politicians to cower whistle blowers and journalists.

“After one particular raid in the mid-1990s that involved waking up an investigative journalist at his house, pulling all his possessions apart before dawn and a search of Queensland Newspapers for documents that were not found by police, I was phoned by the

responsible minister and personally threatened.”

Mr Mitchell also cited the difference between Australian and US laws in the protection and treatment of whistle blowers.

“Whistle-blowing is important in protecting the public from actions and decisions by governments, bureaucrats and businesses that would otherwise remain hidden. Whistleblowers are heroes and rewarded as such in the US. Here they are hunted down and punished for doing the right thing.”