AFP won’t charge News Corp journalist Annika Smethurst following raid

No charges will be laid against News Corp journalist Annika Smethurst following a police raid on her home almost a year ago.

There is an overwhelming sense of relief after living with stress and fear for 358 days, says News Corp journalist Annika Smethurst. Picture: Sean Davey

News Corp journalist Annika Smethurst will not face criminal charges, nor will any potential sources, after her reporting revealed an intelligence agency wanted to spy on everyday Australian citizens and sparked a police raid on her home.

However two ABC journalists could still face criminal charges for broadcasting stories relating to potential war crimes by Australian soldiers, after the AFP confirmed it was still conducting an “active investigation”.

AFP deputy commissioner for investigations Ian McCarthy said on Wednesday the evidence was not strong enough ultimately to charge either the News Corp journalist or any possible sources.

“No one will be prosecuted in relation to this unauthorised disclosure,” Deputy Commissioner McCarthy said in Canberra.

“The AFP has reviewed all the obtained material and determined there is insufficient evidence to proceed the investigation of the unauthorised disclosure.

“At all times, investigators acted in good faith … investigating breaches of Commonwealth law is the AFP’s job.”

Smethurst’s Canberra home was raided by the AFP in June last year following a story she wrote in April 2018 concerning the government’s plan to increase the surveillance powers of the Australian Signals Directorate.

The report in The Sunday Telegraph, Sunday Herald Sun and News Corp’s Sunday papers detailed plans by ASD to extend its powers from monitoring foreign intelligence to spying on Australian citizens.

News Corp led a High Court challenge to the raid, with High Court finding in April the AFP warrant used on Smethurst’s home was invalid.

Deputy Commissioner McCarthy said all evidence has now been destroyed and will not be used in any other investigations.

Smethurst told The Australian on Wednesday after news of the AFP decisions broke she had “an overwhelming sense of relief” after living with“stress and fear” for 358 days.

“That raid came more than a year after I published the story which triggered this saga meaning it has now been more than two years since the Government asked the AFP to investigate me,” she said.

Smethurst said that one benefit of the raid on her home and the ABC, was to highlight the need for greater protections for press freedom in Australia.

“The AFP decided to drop the criminal investigation into my case because there was insufficient evidence to support the alleged offence, not because our laws adequately protect journalists and whistleblowers.”

Two ABC journalists, Sam Clark and Dan Oakes, could still face charges over a series of stories on potential war crimes in Afghanistan that triggered a raid on the ABC’s Sydney headquarters a day after the raid on Smethurst’s home.

The AFP chief of investigations also confirmed the pair are still facing possible charges.

“It’s still an active investigation. As evidenced by our response to this case, we have quickly moved and assessed the evidence in relation to this matter and our focus is to do the same with that investigation,” he said.

Smethurst said the case of the two ABC journalists also needed to be resolved quickly.

“I will continue to stand up for them as they have done for me. Journalists should never face the threat of jail for doing their jobs and keeping watch over our government,” she said.

News Corp Australasia Executive Chairman Michael Miller said that “common sense has prevailed, but at a price” given almost a year has past since the raid.

“In that time Annika has shown great courage, forced to live with the threat of jail for simply doing her job of informing the Australian public on a matter of serious public interest.

“It was always unacceptable that a High Court decision was needed for Annika to finally get justice to end her ordeal.

“The irony should not be lost on anyone that the story that led to Annika’s persecution was subsequently confirmed as being correct,” Mr Miller said.

The News Corp boss said the decision was further evidence of why protections for journalists are necessary in Australian law.

“The AFP’s decision to drop the investigation into Annika Smethurst shows why the law reform proposals championed by Australia’s Right to Know coalition of media organisations – particularly contestable warrants and shifting the burden of proof from the defendant – are sensible and essential.”

Attorney-General Christian Porter said he found it frustrating the matter took so long to resolve as he distanced the Morrison government from the complaint and investigation into Smethurst’s story.

“The complaint was made independent of government. The decision to commence an investigation was made independently of government. The decision now not to pursue an investigation was made independent of government,” Mr Porter said.

“I share a level of frustration as to how it took so long to resolve but these are decisions that quite properly in our system are made … independent of ministers in executive government. Again, no doubt, there will be explanations provided to the relevant minister to the timing of these matters. But the resolution and the decisions are totally made outside the ambit of individual ministers and executive government, as they should be, in our system.”

ABC News executive editor John Lyons slammed the AFP’s continued investigation into two of his journalists, questioning why they have waited more than a year to know if they will face criminal charges.

“They are still twisting in the wind all this time later,” Mr Lyons told the ABC.