Journalism is not a crime, Albanese said. He’s yet to prove he meant it
In a speech in 2019, Albanese said: “Journalism is not a crime. It is essential to preserve our democracy.”
One test of his resolve will be to introduce uniform national shield laws that would allow journalists to protect their sources without the threat of imprisonment. But today, while shield laws of one kind or another exist in every state and national level, the overall framework is likened to Swiss cheese, and despite ongoing calls, there is no clear sign of a process to harmonize shield laws.
Albanese said in 2019: “We don’t need a culture of secrecy. We need a culture of disclosure.” His own government’s official review in 2023 put the number of privacy provisions in Commonwealth law at 875. Two years later, privacy crimes have become more, not less. Not a good sign.
“Protect whistleblowers,” Albanese said in 2019. “Expand their protections and the public interest test.” We are still waiting for the government’s revised whistleblower reforms to be tabled in parliament and whether this will still depend on the establishment of a whistleblower ombudsman rather than a strong, independent whistleblower protection authority casting a wider net. We should therefore be seriously disappointed that the government has failed to meet the expectations set six years ago..
The lives of two whistleblowers, David McBride and Richard Boyle, are turned upside down. One of the biggest tests of this government’s credibility will be whether McBride or Boyle faces prison under the new laws. Currently this is still possible. If these are not for the public good, what is?
“Reform freedom of information laws so they are not broken by the government,” Albanese said in 2019. But we are told that the new freedom of information laws he proposes will have the opposite effect.
Rick Morton, a journalist with two Walkley awards for his work bringing the terrible truths about Robo-debt to the public, and who knows the public scandal of the Morrison years inside out, observed recently in the Saturday Paper: “The Albanian government’s proposed amendment to the Freedom of Information Act asks us to take seriously the suggestion that Robo-debt could have been avoided under a more secretive regime.”
In September, remarkable Filipino American journalist Maria Ressa spoke at the National Press Club. The Nobel Peace Prize he shared in 2021 – in his case, for the protection of freedom of expression in the Philippines, particularly during the authoritarian reign of Rodrigo Duterte – brings compelling authority to the cautionary note he sounded directly to Australia. It is well positioned to do this, as it has one foot in each of its countries.
One of the keys to Duterte’s enduring political success has been his use of social media to control the narrative, much like the political movement that supported Donald Trump’s inauguration in both his first and second terms. Ressa argues: “The greatest threat we face today is not any one leader or government. It is technology that empowers authoritarian tactics around the world, enabled by democratic governments that have abdicated their responsibilities to protect the people… Technology platforms have become weapons of mass destruction for democracy.” If you haven’t seen his speech, do that first.
He praises Australia for taking on the digital giants with a world-first social media ban on under-16s, but says it was a mistake for the government to abandon legislation it proposed last year to combat disinformation on digital platforms. We drew the world’s attention to this issue. Let’s not stop here.
“We deserve the same human rights in the virtual world that we deserve in the physical world,” he says. No one, including Maria Ressa, says it’s easy. But we all need to invest in this. We don’t just sit here and cover a tennis match. We are in this business. Let us not allow ourselves to be intimidated or derailed by those who seek to distort the concept of freedom of expression for the sake of money and power.
Yes, these are extraordinary times and we all know that I am only scratching the surface tonight. And yes, I know the unprecedented disadvantage of good journalism, even in this country. But here we are again tonight, celebrating the best of quality journalism, and therein lies our hope and inspiration.
After all my years in journalism, I have an unwavering belief in the public’s insatiable hunger for news that informs, feeds our curiosity, and captures our imagination; This fosters important discussions and can be trusted. This hunger won’t just evaporate.
And if we think We we spend a lot of effort trying to penetrate the veil of corporate secrecy; or trying to call out those who would polarize our communities for dirty political purposes; or to resist attempts by government or corporate machines to dictate our stories to us, cynical or otherwise; or if you are struggling in a regional or rural community severely deprived of news sources and the most basic resources, remind yourself of the journalists in Gaza or Ukraine or Russia or China or Myanmar or Afghanistan who were locked up or imprisoned or went to their graves for an ideal – trying to report the truth.
Kerry O’Brien is an experienced journalist. This is an edited version of the speech he gave at the Walkley Awards ceremony on Thursday night.
