Australia lagging behind on press freedom: experts | MWhitbourn
over separate reports based on leaked government documents. The search warrants were granted by an ACT magistrate and a NSW Local Court registrar respectively.
Warrants would still be issued in secret, but a taxpayer-funded “Public Interest Advocate” – a senior barrister or a former superior court judge – would appear in court to “represent the interests of the principles of public interest journalism”. But Associate Professor Rebecca Ananian-Welsh, from the University of Queensland’s TC Beirne School of Law, said the recommendations did not go far enough.“The first that a journalist or media organisation will know about a warrant [to search for and seize material] is when the police turn up to execute it. At that point, much of the damage has been done, in terms of a chilling effect ... on free speech and reporting,” she said.
“The use of a public interest advocate regime might be suitable protection in the context of covert warrants, but it does not go anywhere near far enough where search and seizure warrants are concerned,” he said.
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