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WORLD REPORT 2014Freedom of MediaIn September 2013, the High Court rejected an appeal by three award-winningjournalists working for the Age newspaper who refused to comply with an orderto disclose their confidential sources in a defamation case for articles written in2009. The journalists face charges of contempt of court, which could lead tofines and imprisonment if they refuse to reveal their sources.Since the publication of these articles, shield laws protecting journalisticsources have been introduced in six of the nine legal jurisdictions in Australia.In these jurisdictions, there is now a presumption that journalists do not haveto reveal their sources. The presumption can be overridden where the benefit ofdisclosure would outweigh the harm. Whether these new shield laws will offeradequate protection remains to be seen. No such protections exist inQueensland, South Australia, and the Northern Territory.Australia’s Foreign PolicyAustralia held a two-year rotating seat on the UN Security Council starting in2013. It used its presidency of the Security Council in September to push for aresolution restricting the trade in and distribution of small arms and lightweapons and a presidential statement on humanitarian access in Syria. Thegovernment continued its leadership role in international disarmament by presidingover the successful final Arms Trade Treaty negotiations in New York.Despite calls for a boycott over lack of war crimes accountability in Sri Lanka,Australia sent a high-level delegation to the Commonwealth Heads ofGovernment Meeting (CHOGM) in Colombo in November 2013. Prime MinisterAbbott and Foreign Minister Julie Bishop repeatedly sidestepped or downplayedthe importance of accountability and respect for human rights. Most egregiously,Abbott, addressing allegations of torture by Sri Lankan security forces,defended the Sri Lankan government, saying “We accept that sometimes, in difficultcircumstances, difficult things happen.”This rationalization of torture, which was endemic during the war years andcontinues to be a serious problem in Sri Lanka today, seems to have been motivatedin part by the goal of enlisting Sri Lanka’s support in preventing asylumseekers from leaving Sri Lanka for Australia, and, on the same visit, Abbott296