June 15 2019 INL_Digital_Edition

14
JUNE 15, 2019
Businesslink
Police raids infringe press freedom in Australia
Colin Peacock
Three times in one week, the
powers-that-be intruded on
journalists in Australia to try
and dig out sources of controversial
stories of clear public interest.
Media freedom advocates there say
a new law is now needed to reinforce
the right to know. Should we take note
too?
The Afghan Files
The Police raid that rocked
Australia’s public broadcaster the ABC
related to a series of stories two years
ago known as ‘The Afghan Files.’
Under the heading Defence leak
exposes deadly secrets of Australia’s
special forces, it alleged misconduct of
Australian troops serving in Afghanistan
revealed in what is alleged to be
leaked classified material.
One man already faces charges for
that.
ABC Investigations Editor John
Lyons said that watching Police Officers
sifting through source material
on ABC premises was like “ having
surgery while conscious.”
“I was seeing and hearing things
which I’d rather not be. It felt acomplete
violation of us both as journalists
and citizens, and it had nothing to do
with national security.”
But this wasn’t the only intrusion
by Australian Federal Police on
journalism which hit the headlines
this week.
Another on ‘The Australian’
Annika Smethurst’s paper The
Australian was incensed about police
raiding her home in pursuit of a story
about alleged illegal spying by the
Australian Signals Directorate.
“Several officers arrived at the
house of the award-winning Political
Editor yesterday (June 8) with a search
warrant, rifling through her personal
items including her underwear,”
the paper reported, pulling down its
online paywall so that all the world
could see its stories.
“She was subjected to what her
employer and the Union has dubbed
intimidation and harassment,” The
Australian said.
Sydney talk Radio host Ben Fordham
then revealed he was targeted
this week after reporting asylum
seeker boats were making their way to
Australia, citing a source at the Home
Affairs Department.
He said he that was contacted twice
more by “senior figures” wanting to
identify the source of the leak.
Un-Australian: Alan Jones
His 2GB colleague Alan Jones,
the Station’s heaviest hitter, told his
listeners all this was un-Australian
because his colleague’s story and Ms
Smethurst’s spying yarn were both in
the public interest.
Mr Jones, who has been a vocal
supporter of Liberal Party Prime
Ministers over the years, went on
to call out the Prime Minister Scott
Morrison personally.
“The least the government should
say is that this will never ever happen
again under our government. You
have a smile on your face that you are
a good sort of avuncular dorky sort of
bloke and we are relying on you. You
are the hope of the side here. This is
not Australia as we want it to be,” he
said.
New Security Laws
Mr Morrison has insisted the AFP
were simply following the law.
Man described as ‘dangerous
white supremacist’ to remain in jail
Katie Todd
Frank Finch, 22, will be imprisoned
for crimes including theft
and unlawfully getting into a
motor vehicle, but the police
have also laid an additional charge
of threatening to kill, for which he
appeared in the afternoon and will
enter pleas on next month.
Ahead of yesterday morning’s
sentencing, Finch’s grandfather, Rod
Finch, had voiced concerns that his
grandson could kill someone if released
from prison because he holds
white supremacist beliefs, was a
member of a gang and had expressed
a willingness to kill.
Having served just under six
months on remand in prison already,
it was possible he could have been
released today -but he wasn’t. Judge
Anthony Couch jailed him for 14
months, meaning Finch will serve at
least another two months in prison.
Likely to reoffend
Citing psychiatric reports, Judge
Anthony Couch said Finch clearly
had no remorse and was likely to
reoffend if released.
“The conclusion of the psychiatrist
is that you lack motivation to make
meaningful change in your life or
to take any steps to avoid further
offending. The psychiatrist also complains
that you didn’t need extensive
and long term support in a highly
structured environment to gain the
skills to even consider pursuing a
viable life outside of prison,” he said.
Finch’s lawyer Allister Davis had
asked for a sentence of intensive
supervision, and speaking after the
sentencing, he said the jail term was
a missed opportunity.
“But that opportunity may arise
Sydney’s Daily Telegraph reacts to the raids (Photo: Screenshot
Frank Finch appears in Christchurch District
Court (Photo for RNZ by Katie Todd)
again in the future. At the moment,
we’ve got ayoung man with some
pretty serious psychological problems
and issues that’s in jail. Idon’t believe
that it’s helping him at all, but he’s
done the crime has got to do the time
I suppose,” he said.
Additional charge surprising
Finch’s grandfather was also at
court today, and said the additional
charge of threatening to kill, laid by
police last night, came as a surprise.
But Rod Finch felt today’s proceedings
were a step in the right direction.
“Last Friday, there was nothing in
place to support Frank on his potential
release today, so at least we’ve got
a proposed program, which I believe
will, over time, get Frank back into
the community as a law-abiding
contributor to society -and that’s all
he wants.”
He said he is happy he spoke out
about his concerns that his grandson
could kill someone, and hopeful
there may be future opportunities
for Frank to turn his life around and
reintegrate safely into society.
“He’s intelligent, and he knows
where his weaknesses are. But how
do you support a person? There need
to be astructure where he’s going to
get that support.”
Former Australia Rugby Coach Alan
Jones (Facebook)
Help from Transforming
Justice Foundation
Nevertheless he said it took
a lot of time and effort before
his concerns were heard, and
it took help from Scott Guthrie
of the Transforming Justice
Foundation.
Mr Guthrie still had concerns
about Finch re-offending once
he was released.
“I think that we’ve done
enough now for Corrections to
be fully aware ... to be behind
Frank when ... he does get
released, it won’t be into the
mainstream community. It’ll be
a slow and sure release to make
sure he is ready to go back into
the community,” he said.
Mr Guthrie said it should
not have taken the work of Rod
Finch and a volunteer such as
himself to get Corrections to sit
up and pay attention.
He said Frank Finch is a drug
addict and there needed to be
more money spent on drug
and alcohol counselling for
prisoners.
“Then also, once the prisons
are released, they just drop
them to the community with
a cheap $300 and a big pocket.
They’ve got very little support.
There’s not enough money
within corrections to support
these people when they come
into the community.”
At his second appearance
yesterday afternoon, Frank
Finch was remanded in custody,
and in three weeks he is expected
to enter a plea.
Katie Todd is a Reporter at
Radio New Zealand. The
above Report and Picture
have been published under
a Special Arrangement with
www.rnz.co.nz
Peter Greste, UNESCO Chair of
Journalism at the University of
True enough, said leading
Australian media freedom advocate
Peter Greste in the Guardian. But only
because Australia’s parliament has
passed a slew of national security laws
in recent years that restrict and even
criminalise the legitimate work of
journalists.
The National Security Amendment
Act in 2014 introduced jail terms of up
to ten years for journalists who disclosed
covert intelligence operations.
The Foreign Fighters Act provided
for journalists to be jailed for publishing
news reports or ads that might
help terrorists recruit.
A year later, the Data Retention
Act empowered the Police and other
state agencies to access journalists’
metadata that could reveal their
confidential sources -in some cases,
without a warrant.
A year ago, Mr Greste told Mediawatch
that they pressed hard for
public interest tests in all these laws to
protect journalism.
“The government is drafting
legislation so loosely that it effectively
criminalises some of the most important
work of journalists and that’s
what we need to protect.”
The pushback
Last year, Australian news media
united to oppose the National Security
Legislation Amendment Bill which
Mr Greste said could criminalise all
steps of news reporting, from news-
Queensland, Australia (AFJ Picture)
gathering and researching to handling
information and publication.
The Bill was eventually watered
down, but this week’s ABC raid shows
public interest tests don’t always
protest reporters.
When the Police descended on the
ABC in Sydney on Wednesday (June 5),
the lengthy warrant documents cited
a much older law: the Crimes Act 1914.
“In 2018 the laws changed to give
public interest defences to journalists
but it’s not applying in this case,”
said Paul Barry, the host of the ABC
TV show Media Watch, talking to
reporters outside ABC HQ while raid
was going on inside.
“That may be because the offence is
too old but that is a scandal.
“It’s also ascandal that the
whistle-blower himself has gone
through the whistle-blower process,
complained to his superiors that
something illegal has been done and
then decided that he was forced to
disclose it to the public.”
If the alleged whistle-blower went
to the media as a very last resort
after concerns were not addressed
internally, should give us pause for
thought too.
Intelligence and Security Act
In 2017, a new law overhauling
powers of spy agencies here, the
Intelligence and Security Act made it
easier for people to make a “protected
disclosure” to the in-house watchdog
the Inspector General of Intelligence
and Security.
But those who pass information to
journalists may face up to five years
in jail.
This has yet to be tested, but it will
be brave member of the intelligence
services who leaks information the
media on that basis.
Journalists will also have the added
worry of possible prosecution themselves
if pressed to reveal sources.
No breach of security
Mr Greste, speaking on behalf of
the Alliance for Journalists’ Freedom
- said there’s no evidence the reporters
raided or probed in Australia this past
week have compromised national
security in any way.
The Alliance for Journalists’ Freedom
(AFJ), recently published a White
Paper calling for a new law to protect
the public interest.
“The tool we recommend is a
Media Freedom Act that positively
puts the role of the press in the middle
of our legal system. At the moment,
there is nothing in Australian law that
explicitly protects press freedom in the
way that the First Amendment does in
the US constitution. The onus should
be shifted to the authorities to show
why the public interest defence should
not apply. It is also important that the
exemption include whistle-blowers,”
Mr Greste wrote in a piece for The
Conversation.
Mr Greste was famously locked
up in an Egyptian jail on trumped
up terrorism charges in 2013 while
reporting for Al Jazeera.
“I’m not suggesting that Australia is
about to become Egypt any time soon
but what we are seeing seems to me to
be on the same spectrum.”
It could be time to ponder where
New Zealand sits on that spectrum too.
Colin Peacock writes the ‘Media
Watch’ column for Radio New
Zealand. The above article and
pictures have been published under
a Special Arrangement with www.
rnz.co.nz.
Read our Editorial, Australian Press
Freedom in peril: Should we worry?
under ‘Viewlink.’
Clichés send wrong messages
of employment
Danielle van Dalen
ajob you love, and you’ll
never work a day in your life.”
“Choose
This cliché was printed on a
sign outside the career advisor’s office at
my school, and the underlying message
always bugged me.
The idea that all of us get the luxury of
“choosing” the perfect job is woefully out
of touch, but more importantly, it’s just
wrong to assume that it would be good
for us to avoid work.
In fact, steady employment is good
for our mental, emotional, and physical
health, even when it isn’t fun.
Following the release of last week’s
Well-Being Budget, economist Simon
Chapple was frustrated by its failure
to make “unemployment one of their
central well-being priorities.”
He’s right to point out this oversight,
as the benefits of work go beyond simply
providing income.
More meaningful life
Despite our Monday morning
protests, studies show that employment
is “a source of meaning” that provides
structure and purpose for many of us.
The World Happiness Report finds
that having the structure of a working
day, “regularly shared experiences
and contacts with people outside the
family, links to goals and purposes that
transcend individual, personal status and
identity, and the enforcement of activity,”
are all important benefits we gain in employment.
More than that, it’s an area of
life in which we can participate in society.
Not only is it proven that work can be
good for us, it is clear that not working
can have negative effects. Gordon Waddell
and A Kim Burton state that: “Unemployment
is generally harmful to health”
and is linked with “higher mortality,”
poor “physical and mental health and
well-being”, with the impacts reaching
beyond the unemployed individual and
into society. In fact, “mass unemployment
is a major blow to society. It reduces the
happiness of those unemployed by as
much as bereavement or divorce, and it
also infects those who do have jobs with
the fear of losing them.”
Reducing involuntary unemployment
The World Happiness Report also
found that when seeking to improve
a state’s happiness “governments
should give great weight to policies that
reduce involuntary unemployment,
including retraining, job matching, public
employment, low-wage subsidies, [and]
education support.” Finding a job can be
stressful and demoralising for many, and
it’s important to recognise that not everyone
is able to work. But this is where
good policy can play a part, preparing
and assisting those who are able to work,
while supporting those who are not.
Despite the Wellbeing Budget having
come and gone, we need the Government
to recognise their role in prioritising
employment. It’s important for all of us.
As Mr Chapple states, “to place
[unemployment] in such a position of
prominence would be to inaugurate policies
considerably more transformational
that this coalition has thus far delivered.”
We need to stop giving our young
people the wrong impression of work,
spouting unhelpful clichés, and setting
them up to be disappointed.
Instead, we need to embrace the
reality that while work isn’t always fun,
it’s incredibly important for our own
health and the health of our society.
Danielle van Dalen is a Researcher at
the Auckland-based Maxim Institute.