Peter Greste, of Alliance for Journalists’ Freedom, urges spy agency to be transparent and make an open submission

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Spy agency Asio is being urged to make a public submission to a parliamentary inquiry into press freedom, as the government considers whether changes are needed to national security laws to protect journalists.

After Asio made a classified submission to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, examining how national security laws are affecting the work of journalists, the Alliance for Journalists’ Freedom is calling for it to make its case publicly.

Director of AJF Peter Greste said that while the organisation recognised that Asio needed to keep some elements of its work classified, it should make a separate open submission to the inquiry that did not disclose sensitive information.

“The AJF finds it hard to believe that Asio is unable to provide an open submission to the inquiry without exposing classified operational details,” Greste said in a statement on Wednesday.

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“Asio is effectively saying to the public ‘trust us’. The best way to build and maintain that trust in a democracy is, while maintaining operation secrecy to the extent necessary, by our agencies being as open and transparent as they are able to be.”

The Asio submission cannot be reviewed by any member of the public, and the agency is likely to also give “in camera” evidence to the PJCIS.

Media companies, including News Corp, Nine and the ABC, have used their submission to the inquiry to urge the government to unwind the criminalisation of journalism and add safeguards such as a right to front court and contest applications for search warrants against reporters.

The parliamentary inquiry was triggered by high-profile raids on News Corp journalist Annika Smethurst and the headquarters of the ABC, prompting concern that journalists could be charged for publishing protected information.

Protected information formed the basis of ABC reports of alleged unlawful killings by Australian troops in Afghanistan and plans by the secretive Australian Signals Directorate to extend powers to spy on Australian citizens.

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Following widespread outrage over the raids, the Australian federal police has pushed back against calls for greater safeguards, saying they would “fundamentally undermine” its investigations.

The AFP has said the current legislative framework does not erode press freedom, while warning that leaks “can have adverse, even catastrophic, consequences”.

Those include revealing sensitive AFP methods and capabilities, exposing undercover officers and informants, and harming Australia’s reputation so foreign partners withhold information that may assist in protecting national security.

“A document does not need to be published in full or part for these risks to materialise,” it said, because unsecured storage of classified documents “creates a risk of the information being accessed by nefarious third parties, including foreign actors”.

A submission from the director general of national intelligence, Nick Warner, claims that secrecy is necessary to the operations of agencies.

“In many cases, the likely damage resulting from the unauthorised disclosure or publication of intelligence information is serious,” he said.

“This harm can occur even when the information may appear innocuous or historical.”

He also warned that the inability to share advice with international intelligence partners with robust protections in place was critical to public safety, pointing to the disruption of a plot to bomb an Etihad flight leaving Sydney in 2017 as a high-profile example.

“The unauthorised disclosure or publication of foreign partner information could have serious ramifications, including putting at risk Australia’s relationship with those partners and that country,” he said.

Additional reporting from Australian Associated Press