Media bosses in the dark on journalist prosecutions

Media executives have received no assurances from the government that journalists targeted in raids won’t be prosecuted.

ABC managing director David Anderson, left, Free TV Australia chief executive Bridget Fair, Nine chief executive Hugh Marks, SBS director of corporate affairs Clare O’Neil and News Corp Australia’s group executive for corporate affairs, policy and government relations Campbell Reid in Canberra yesterday. Picture: Kym Smith

Media executives have received no assurances from the Morrison government that journalists targeted in police raids won’t be prosecuted amid growing concerns federal parliament’s powerful intelligence and security committee is the wrong forum to investigate press freedom.

Representatives from the ABC, Nine, SBS, Free TV Australia and News Corp Australia, publisher of The Australian, met Attorney-General Christian Porter and Communications Minister Paul Fletcher at Parliament House yesterday in a bid to confirm there would be no prosecutions following AFP raids last month.

“We remain frustrated that a month after search warrants were carried out by the AFP, the fate of our journalists remains unclear,” ABC managing director David Anderson said.

Campbell Reid, News Corp Australia’s group executive for corporate affairs, policy and government relations, said: “We’ve been urged to go to the police ­ and the Home Affairs Minister (Peter Dutton) with what we feel about that issue. We will take that up.”

The AFP raided the home of Annika Smethurst, a journalist with News Corp Australia in June over a 2018 story suggesting the country’s cyber spy agency could for the first time monitor Australians.

The next day, the ABC’s headquarters were raided over a series of stories written in 2017 by Dan Oakes and Sam Clark.

The raids have triggered separate announcements by the government and Labor for inquiries into press freedom, with Scott Morrison opting to look at the powers of police and intelligence agencies and their impact on a free press through the parliamentary joint committee on intelligence and security.

Mr Porter said he had explained the inquiry’s terms of reference to the media executives and invited the organisations to make submissions.

The media bosses are concerned the scope of the inquiry is too narrow, evidence can be heard in secret and the committee has recommended laws that have impinged on the work of journalists.

Labor will today attempt to ­establish a separate parliamentary joint committee to inquire into press freedom but does not have the necessary support of the government in the House of Representatives to succeed.

“Labor did consider whether or not the PJCIS was the appropriate body to conduct such an inquiry. It was our view that, in fact, the parliament and the public would be better served by a parliamentary joint committee,” opposition home affairs spokeswoman ­Kristina Keneally told the ABC.

“One that had a wider membership that allows for crossbench participation and one that starts with a presumption of openness.”

Centre Alliance senator Stirling Griff said both the government’s and Labor’s proposed inquiries had merit but the opposition’s was “more robust”.

“It will properly canvass a wide range of views and representative recommendations,” he said.

Media bosses will meet with Mr Porter and Mr Fletcher again in about three months.