The Australian Federal Court yesterday ruled that a police raid last year on the national broadcaster was legal, prompting fears of increasing secrecy in the nation’s institutions.
The Australian Federal Police raided the Australian Broadcasting Corp’s (ABC) Sydney headquarters in June last year over the leaking of classified documents.
Dubbed “The Afghan Files,” ABC in 2017 had reported allegations of unlawful killings and misconduct by Australian special forces in Afghanistan.
The raids sparked public outrage and were condemned as media intimidation.
ABC launched a challenge to the validity of the warrant, saying it was “legally unreasonable,” but the case was dismissed by Federal Court Justice Wendy Abraham, who ordered ABC to pay the costs of the other parties.
The decision allows the federal police to keep all the material seized during the raid.
In a written submission, ABC lawyers said the search warrant was a “very significant intrusion of privacy.”
Abraham said that the police tried not to be too intrusive in the execution of the warrant, as evidenced by ABC’s lawyers being present throughout the search.
Under Australia’s increasingly stringent national security laws, it is illegal for Commonwealth officers to leak documents or publish the information.
The whistle-blower, former military lawyer David William McBride, has previously admitted leaking documents that formed part of the basis for ABC’s reports.
He has been charged with a raft of criminal offenses and is out on bail until his next court appearance on Monday next week.
ABC managing director David Anderson said the warrant was an attempt to “intimidate journalists.”
“This ruling highlights the serious problem with Australia’s secrecy laws,” he said. “Australia has by far the most onerous secrecy laws of any comparable Western democracy — the UK, US, Canada, New Zealand.”
“This is at odds with our expectation that we live in an open and transparent society,” he said.
ABC news director Gaven Morris called for reform to protect whistle-blowers.
“The way public interest journalism is able to be undertaken in this country is a mess,” he said. “It’s time to recognize that we have a right to know what goes on inside our democracy, and it’s time we go on and fix it.”
Morris said ABC would consider appealing the decision.
The Canberra home of a reporter from News Corp, owned by media baron Rupert Murdoch, was also raided in June last year in the search for unrelated classified documents.
News Corp is challenging the validity of that warrant in separate court proceedings.
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