AFP boss rejects intimidation, says election had no bearing on raids

Neither the election, nor the Morrison government had a role in journalist raids, AFP head says.

Acting AFP Commissioner Neil Gaughan took a strong defence of the raids and said nobody — including the media — was above the law. Picture: Kym Smith

Federal Police acting commissioner Neil Gaughan says the election played no role in the timing on recent raids on journalists, but left the door open to prosecuting reporters.

Acting Commissioner Gaughan defended police in a sometimes testy press conference and said the force acted independently from the Morrison Government.

But when asked if ABC or News Corp journalists should be charged, he said it was too soon to say.

“It’s important to say we’re in the evidence collection phase of the investigation. Now, clearly, we’ve got a long way to go,” he said.

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

“Public interest is something that we look at in relation to our investigations from the outset. And it’s something we’ll consider in the cause of producing our brief of evidence.”

The acting commissioner confirmed was a crime to publish official secrets and said it was an offence to have them still on websites.

“I reject the claim over the last few days we’re trying to intimidate journalists or conduct a campaign against the media. The AFP is a strong supporter of press freedom.”

The acting commissioner took a strong defence of the raids and said nobody — including the media — was above the law.

“Our investigations are an objective search for the truth. It involves the discovery and presentation of evidence in an exhaustive, comprehensive, and organised matter. These often include the execution of search warrants. No sector of the community should be immune to this type of activity or evidence collection more broadly,” he said.

“This includes law enforcement itself, the media, or indeed, even politicians. There are criminal allegations being investigated and we cannot ignore them. We are duty bound to conduct these investigations impartially and thoroughly.’

Acting Commissioner Gaughan confirmed the two raids were co-ordinated, though the investigations are separate.

“The reason it was done consecutively, it was simply a matter of resourcing. I needed a number of investigators for both search warrants,” he said.

“More importantly, I needed digital forensics capability. The AFP is a complex organisation. We do large scale investigations, you know, this is part of it. We do counter-terrorism, child protection, serious and organised crime and crowd those resources for two full days, is quite difficult.

“The issue for me was this operation has taken a number of months to get to this phase. The timing from my perspective is irrelevant. We would be having this decision regardless when I executed the warrants.”

He also said members of the government were”as standard practice” informed at the time the leaks were referred but neither ministers nor their staff were updated on the investigation.

“We’re required under our national guideline to inform the minister when we receive investigations of this nature. We undertook that. But it’s also important to note that, you know, sensitive investigations such as this, we utilise a fair amount of discretion not to brief the minister,” he said.

“We did not provide regular updates on operational activities, nor did we tell them we have obtained search warrants and planned to execute these warrants.”

Dutton defends AFP

It came after Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton says he is open to a discussion on increasing protections for journalists covering national security matters, but has defended federal police and the Defence Department for taking action on the leaks of government secrets.

Opposition legal affairs spokesman Mark Dreyfus took aim at Mr Dutton and Scott Morrison today for saying they did not know about recent raids on ABC and News Corp journalists until they happened.

■ MORE: Accused leader says ‘I did right thing’ | Chris Merritt writes the media must go to court | News Corp boss says raids an affront | Arthur Moses says media is key to democracy | Annika Smethurst: When I answered the front door | Chris Mitchell warns of backfire

Mr Dutton today said he supported freedom of the press, but that the leaks in question were “highly classified” and he understood why the Defence Department was concerned by the reports.

“All of us support freedom of the press … If the law needs to be modernised you can have that discussion,” he told Sydney’s 2GB radio.

“Obviously it’s a serious breach of our laws when highly classified documents are leaked and the Secretary of the Defence Department makes the decision then to refer that to the federal police,” he said.

“From what I understand of the facts, we’re talking about highly classified national security documents, and they were leaked from the department. That’s a matter that obviously the Defence Department takes very seriously.”

Mr Dutton reiterated that it was Defence Department officials who referred the leaks to the Australian Federal Police, and not any government ministers.

Meanwhile,

Perception of losing freedom of press: Kenneally

Labor’s new home affairs spokeswoman Kristina Keneally says recent police raids on ABC and News Corp journalists give the “perception” Australia faces losing freedom of the press.

Senator Keneally would not say today if Labor would push for stronger protections for journalists, but said she had questions about whether reporters were at risk of prosecution and why investigations into stories by ABC reporters and Annika Smethurst have gone on for months.

.@KKeneally speaking on the AFP raids: It is reasonable to say that these two raids will have a chilling effect on media organisations in this country.

MORE: https://t.co/nuwMywM14h #KennyReport pic.twitter.com/rug1BgTBhr

— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) June 6, 2019

Earlier today, her shadow cabinet colleague Mr Dreyfus said that he did not believe Scott Morrison was a believer in press freedom, and suggested a senate inquiry into the raids.

Senator Keneally did not take as strong an approach as Mr Dreyfus, and said she still believed that government departments should investigate unauthorised disclosures.

“Many people will have seen the last 48 hours as the first steps down a slippery slope to losing a free press in Australia,” she said in Melbourne today.

“ Now that may be a perception, it may not be the reality. But it’s incumbent upon the government of the day, Scott Morrison as Prime Minister, and Peter Dutton as Minister for Home Affairs, responsible for the Australian Federal Police, to answer those questions.

“It is entirely legitimate and necessary to ensure that some matters are kept secret in order to ensure safety and security for our country. It’s also entirely legitimate and necessary for governments to investigate when undisclosed release of such information, unauthorised disclosure of that information is put in the public realm.”

Questions have been raised over whether journalists are subject to prosecution in these raids after the Australian Federal Police stated the search warrants were under part six and seven of the Crimes Act.

Part seven of the Crimes Act states people who “communicate” official secrets can be liable for up to two years jail.

“Just earlier this week, the Attorney-General, Christian Porter, made public statements where he conveyed to the nation it was his understanding that it was only government officials who were being investigated here,” he said.

“But today, the AFP appears to have corrected their public statement, they appear to have assert it is section 79, and that does leave open the very real possibility there’s people besides government officials under investigation.

“It’s incumbent upon the government to make clear in this era of confusion as to which section the police are relying on, and the implications of that.”

‘Freedoms won on D-Day under threat’

Earlier, Mr Dreyfus linked recent raids on journalists to the rights secured by D-Day veterans who fought the Nazis.

The Prime Minister has distanced his government from the raids on ABC headquarters and the home of News Corp reporter Annika Smethurst in recent days and sympathised that the media involved would be upset and feeling very anxious.

Mr Morrison, Mr Dutton and Attorney-General Christian Porter have all said they did not know about the raids before they took place and it was the Defence Department — not cabinet ministers — who referred both matters.

But Mr Dreyfus said he did not accept their statements and it was still the government’s responsibility. He also opened the door to Labor supporting the Greens’ calls for a senate inquiry into the raids.

“The government is responsible for this. These are government documents, this government information, the government referred this to the Australian Federal Police … this government has some explaining to do here,” he told ABC radio

“Mr Morrison and Mr Dutton need to stand up and explain to Australians why some of the freedoms that our forefathers fought for on D-Day, 75 years ago just to remind people, are being threatened. That’s what happening here.”

Mr Morrison attended D-Day commemorations with the Queen and US President Donald Trump today.

Mr Dreyfus questioned why the raids happened while the Prime Minister and Mr Dutton were overseas, and accused Mr Morrison of “hollow words” on press freedom.

“They knew about these leaks because they were published … we can’t have these hollow words from Mr Morrison that he believes in press freedom when these raids are happening now,” the Labor frontbencher.

“It’s a arrogant waive of the hand from this Prime Minister whose leadership is failing, failing Australians if he’s letting this happen. He is not a believer on press freedom if he’s letting this happen.”