Proposed changes to Australia’s national security laws that could see journalists and whistleblowers jailed for up to 20 years will “criminalise” reporting and undermine the media’s ability to act in the public interest, the nation’s major news outlets have warned.



In a joint submission, 14 major media outlets including the ABC, Fairfax Media and News Corp said sweeping changes to national security laws proposed by the federal government would place journalists at “significant risk of jail time” for doing their jobs.

The reforms, tabled just hours after marriage equality became law in December, would increase tenfold the maximum penalty for anyone who communicates or “deals with” information which could potentially “cause harm to Australia’s interests,” where that information is obtained via a government official without authorisation.

The government says the new laws are about countering the influence of foreign states such as China and Russia, but the proposal includes major changes to secrecy laws that could potentially be applied to journalists and organisations such as WikiLeaks.

Described as “creeping Stalinism” by policy experts, the proposed legislation would make it illegal for any person to communicate or deal with information obtained by a public servant that is “inherently harmful” or likely to harm “Australia’s interests”.

Those interests include information which prejudices international relations “in any way” or damages relations between the federal government and a state.

Penalties for breaching the laws would range from five to 15 years’ imprisonment for standard offences, stretching to 20 years for aggravated offences.

In its submission to the joint parliamentary intelligence committee reviewing the legislation the media organisations warn the bill “criminalises all steps of news reporting” and applies “criminal risk” to journalists and other editorial staff.

“The bill is a significant step beyond the existing legislation that applies to Commonwealth officers,” the submission states. “This is particularly when it has not been demonstrated that there are ‘problems’ that need to be ‘fixed’.

“The result is that fair scrutiny and public interest reporting is increasingly difficult and there is a real risk that journalists could go to jail for doing their jobs.”

The attorney general’s department argues the bill contains adequate protections for journalists, “even if they have received information in breach of a secrecy offence” because the proposed legislation includes caveats which would protect reporting of “fair and accurate” information “in the public interest”.

But experts have warned the terms are highly subjective and open to different interpretations by courts.

For example, the bill’s explanatory memorandum states the journalist protections are lost if the reporting in question is deemed to be “false or distorted”.

“In a world where charges of ‘fake news’ are made without justification and quite often because what is reported is not to someone’s liking, we recommend the government reconsider this as a matter of utmost importance,” the media organisations urge.



“Additionally, we draw the committee’s attention to the manner in which some Australian courts have been assessing the conduct of journalists – and expecting nothing less than ‘perfect’ conduct before considering the manner in which fairness and accuracy can be ascertained – for example how a journalist acted or steps taken to research and communicate a report.”

In another submission the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS), Margaret Stone, said the legislation could hinder the work of her agency.

IGIS acts as a watchdog for Australia’s intelligence community including ASIO, the Australian Secret Intelligence Service, Australian Signals Directorate, Australian Geospatial Intelligence Organisation, Defence Intelligence Organisation and the Office of National Assessments.

Stone said the bill could create “barriers to people making complaints or disclosures to the IGIS” because of a lack of protection for people who deal with records “for the purpose of making a communication to ... IGIS officials”.

The committee will hold public hearings in Canberra at the end of January.