Law bid to rein in raids by police

POLICE will be forced to ask a judge for permission to raid journalists’ homes and offices and/or access their data records under a Bill to be introduced into Parliament next month to enshrine press freedoms.

The chairwoman of the Senate cross party committee investigating press freedoms in Australia, Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, will introduce a Media Freedom Act draft regardless of the outcome of the inquiry, frustrated by what she sees as the continued outlawing of the press.

The Greens senator was yesterday fuming over the ABC’s legal challenge loss on Monday over raids on its Sydney headquarters last year that followed a raid on News Corp journalist Annika Smethurst’s home and another planned but abandoned police raid on News Corp offices.

Under Senator HansonYoung’s draft, expected to be backed by the cross benches, there will be a contested warrants process where law enforcement would need to apply to the courts to search a media outlet or access metadata.

A public interest defence will be introduced to protect whistleblowers, with the onus placed on prosecutors to disprove public interest rather than a journalist prove it, and shield laws to protect journalists from being forced to reveal sources.

The draft is likely to be supported by media groups that last year formed an unprecedented alliance in the Your Right to Know campaign.

“The truth is, those in power don’t want the public to know what they’re up to and are shutting down transparency and accountability to serve their own interests,” Senator Hanson-Young said.

The inquiry is expected to report about the same time as her draft is introduced.