Page 4287 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 23 October 2019
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journalists and the ABC for reports in 2017 and 2018 relating to national intelligence agencies and foreign operations.
These raids came as a result of the beginning of the trial of David McBride, the military lawyer who leaked to the ABC the Afghan files on potential war crimes conducted by Australian Special Forces in Afghanistan. While these may not all seem directly linked they all point back to a state apparatus which is increasingly securitising the state and, with this, eroding civic freedoms.
In each of these cases the individuals had sought to disclose and resolve perceived misconduct internally. It was only after the failure of internal regulatory measures to act appropriately that these individuals turned to the press and the public to do the job of keeping our institutions accountable.
In almost every one of these instances prosecution began years after the alleged misconduct occurred. In Witness K’s case, he and Mr Collaery had received approval by the Inspector-General of Intelligence Security to lodge an internal complaint and provide evidence in private proceedings at The Hague. It was only after ASIO raided their homes and seized their files in 2013 under a piece of anti-terrorism legislation that the issue later became public. Given the time frame, these issues were not matters of national security but rather revelations of acts of corruption and exploitation by institutions not sufficiently held accountable. Whistleblowers and a free and independent media are necessary components of the mechanism of valuable democracy.
Since 11 September 2001 a plethora of national security and counter-terrorism laws have been implemented with the intention of protecting our institutions, laws, freedoms and democracy. Yet as these laws continue to extend in an era of increasing state securitisation, increasingly they are becoming tools of oppression and control. Right now our democracy is at stake.
We need fully equipped, fully resourced and fully independent regulatory bodies to ensure that institutions are acting lawfully and are held to account. We need to increase protections for press freedom to uncover these acts of misconduct masquerading as matters of national security. We need to consider and be more wary of national security justifications for secrecy and opaque state operations. If we do not we risk losing our democracy.
I note that there is to be a rally tomorrow lunchtime at Parliament House about Witness K and Bernard Collaery, if anyone is able to go. And if you want to get distressed you can see some horrible discussions on Julian Assange, who has just had his extradition hearing heard again in London. It is not looking good for press freedom.
Climate change
MS J BURCH (Brindabella) (6.41): Recently I had the pleasure of hosting a university student in my office, Eleanor Hickey, a bright and capable young woman who had an interest in how politics and parliaments ticked and how they worked.
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