In June, 2019, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), Australia’s primary public service broadcaster, was raided by the Australian Federal Police (AFP). The raid was triggered by the ABC’s reports on the Australian armed forces’ alleged killing of Afghan civilians. The AFP regarded the ABC’s receipt and publication of classified military documents as a serious situation. Australian media responded strongly against the raids, which they said was an act threatening the public’s right to know.
In response to this, the Federal Parliament established a committee for investigating whether the balance between right to know and national security was appropriately maintained, and sought media organizations’ and government agencies’ views on this issue.
This paper extracts key points of argument by summarizing the sequence of events regarding Australia’s national security laws based on documents submitted to the committee. Consequently, it is indicated that Australia’s national security laws have been tightened for journalistic activities after repeated modifications and revisions and that legal experts problematized this trend and recommended to correct the situation.
Meanwhile, it is found that the Australian government believes that the national security must be strictly protected and therefore it makes sense to issue tighter laws.
Some experts say that tightening national security laws is becoming a global trend. One of them suggested the public’s right to know might be restrained more strictly even in democratic countries.