Broadcaster’s managing director says AFP raid over 2017’s The Afghan Files series ‘raises legitimate concerns over freedom of the press’

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

The ABC has vowed to continue to report on national security issues without fear amid a raid by the Australian federal police over a series of articles the broadcaster ran in 2017 into the clandestine operations of Australian special forces in Afghanistan.

The raid on the public broadcaster’s headquarters comes just one day after the AFP raided the home of a News Corp political editor over articles she published in 2018 on proposals to expand Australia’s domestic surveillance capabilities.

The searches have sparked concern about press freedom in Australia, with the media union denouncing them as a disturbing attempt to “intimidate” journalism.

The ABC warrant names the reporters Dan Oakes and Sam Clark, as well as the ABC news boss, Gaven Morris.

Scott Morrison deflects questions about raid on News Corp journalist Read more

In a statement less than an hour after the AFP officers entered the office, the ABC managing director, David Anderson, called the raid “highly unusual”.

“This is a serious development and raises legitimate concerns over freedom of the press and proper public scrutiny of national security and defence matters,” he said.

“The ABC stands by its journalists, will protect its sources and continue to report without fear or favour on national security and intelligence issues when there is a clear public interest.”

The AFP said it was investigating “allegations of publishing classified material, contrary to provisions of the Crimes Act” after the stories were referred for investigation by the defence force chief the day after the ABC published them in July 2017.

“No arrests are planned today as a result of this activity,” the agency said. “This activity is not linked to a search warrant executed in Canberra yesterday.”

AFP officers entered the Harris Street premises just after 11.30am. It is understood the broadcaster had some notice of the raid.

John Lyons (@TheLyonsDen) AFP arriving at ABC. Not sure “welcome” is quite the right word. pic.twitter.com/oRVng3bH2x

The executive editor of the broadcaster’s news section and head of its investigative journalism unit, John Lyons, has been live tweeting the raid since it began.

Lyons’ reported on Twitter that AFP officers downloaded more than 9,000 items from ABC computers during the raid, and were then going through them one by one.

John Lyons (@TheLyonsDen) What’s happening now is on a big screen 9214 documents are being gone through, one by one. “Not relevant,” someone said about one. “What’s a Tardis?” one AFP officer said when he saw the word. “It’s like an editing suite,” someone replied.

In a radio interview on Wednesday afternoon, Lyons said he expected the raid to go on for hours if not days.

“What they are trying to do I think, is essentially send a message to people like us, people doing the job of journalists, that from now on you’re on notice and anyone you talk to, anyone you have text contact with, any digital footprint at all – we will know about it,” Lyons told 2GB Radio.

“It really feels like a violation of what we do.”

Lyons said raids could have a chilling effect on journalists as well as the average person who sees wrongdoing and contemplates becoming a potential whistleblower.

“The message to them is approach a journalist at your own peril,” he said.

In March 2019, David McBride, a former defence lawyer, was charged on five counts of leaking classified materials for blowing the whistle on the alleged misconduct by Australian special forces in relation to the The Afghan Filesspecial investigation. He has been committed to the supreme court for trial.

Elise Worthington (@elisereports) ABC IT staff are being instructed by police to search through our internal email systems for key words. AFP are also seeking “data holdings” in relation to the Afghan Files stories. ABC lawyers are supervising. @abcnews pic.twitter.com/lRu00ZCii7

The ABC raid comes less than 24 hours after AFP officers served Smethurst a warrant to search her Canberra home, phone and computer 14 months after she published a story about a top-secret proposal to expand the nation’s domestic surveillance agency’s capabilities.

The AFP spent almost eight hours at Smethurst’s home in a raid condemned by her employer, the media union, the national press gallery, some politicians and digital rights and human rights groups.

Tanya Plibersek (@tanya_plibersek) The Government has serious questions to answer on this. Press freedom is a critical part of our democracy.



Ping @withMEAA https://t.co/WSZYgpmbDv

On Tuesday afternoon the Sydney radio 2GB host and Sky News presenter Ben Fordham said he had been contacted by home affairs officials after he reported that asylum seeker boats were headed to Australia.

Fordham said the officials had told him he was not the target of the home affairs investigation but the department was seeking to establish who had leaked him the information.

During a press conference in London, prime minister Scott Morrison attempted to distance himself from the Smethurst raid, saying it was a matter for the AFP and he was “untroubled” by the upholding of Australian laws, but believed in press freedom.

Police raid on Annika Smethurst shows surveillance exposé hit a nerve Read more

The attorney general, Christian Porter, told ABC radio on Wednesday morning he had not been briefed over the Smethurst raid but did not believe she or her employer were the ultimate target, which appeared to contradict an AFP statement that the warrant related to the “alleged publishing of information classified as an official secret”.

“So the investigation, if I can summarise in broad terms, is not about the journalist per se, it’s about someone who may or may not have made an unauthorised disclosure against the terms of a very well-known provision of the Crimes Act to a third party,” Porter told Radio National.

On Tuesday, the AFP said the warrant did relate to the publication of the information.

AFP (@AusFedPolice) Updated statement re. this morning’s warrants in Canberra. This warrant relates to the alleged publishing of information classified as an official secret, which is an extremely serious matter with the potential to undermine Australia’s national security.https://t.co/BfWkTYXQFN

The AFP has not clarified what law its investigations relate to in either case.

Section 79 of the Crimes Act includes the offence of “communicating or allowing someone to have access to prescribed information without authorisation with the intention of prejudicing national security”.

Labor’s shadow home affairs minister, Kristina Keneally, said the opposition had requested a briefing from home affairs “to seek to understand why raids of such nature are warranted”, describing it “a very significant action”.

“Minister Dutton must explain what he knew about these two raids – one on a journalist’s home and one on the ABC,” she said.

In a media conference held before the news of the ABC warrant broke, the opposition leader, Anthony Albanese, condemned the Smethurst raid as “outrageous”.

“People do have a right to know if the government has proposals to interfere with their privacy in a way which I believe, is something that Australians should have some say over or at least knowledge of,” he said.

The legal director at the Human Rights Law Centre, Emily Howie, said the government’s new espionage laws, passed with the help of Labor last year, raised concerns about the future of public interest journalism.

“The new espionage offence is just the latest law to cover government in a shroud of secrecy and prevent insiders from speaking out. It’s a dangerous law that goes too far and damages press freedom and should urgently be reformed,” she said.

The media union, the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance, said the ABC raid represented “a disturbing attempt to intimidate legitimate news journalism that was in the public interest”.