Human rights charter needed to protect press freedom and public debate in Australia
Australia's journalists and whistleblowers are under increasing threat and urgently need better legal protections, the Human Rights Law Centre has advised in a submission to a Senate inquiry examining free speech and press freedom.
The submission calls on the Morrison government to enact a federal Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms, which would bring Australia in line with comparable democracies, and improve existing statutory protections for journalists and whistleblowers.
In the past two decades, Australian federal governments have introduced almost 100 national security laws. The recent prosecutions of whistleblowers and raids on Australian media outlets have highlighted the lack of safeguards in these laws to ensure freedom of speech and the press is maintained.
In June, meanwhile, a justice of the High Court cast doubt on whether the Australian Constitution contains an implied protection for political communication – something that has been accepted by the Court since the early 1990s.
The Senate's Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee is currently considering whether a constitutional amendment, proposed by Senator Rex Patrick, would provide better protections for press freedom and free speech.
Human Rights Law Centre Senior Lawyer Kieran Pender said:
“Australia is a better place when we can speak freely, journalists can do their jobs and whistleblowers can speak up about wrongdoing. But in recent years, we have seen a range of concerning secrecy and surveillance laws threaten public interest journalism and whistleblowing.
“Whistleblowers who have exposed serious wrongdoing have been prosecuted, and Australian media outlets and journalists have been raided. These events have revealed the fragility of free speech and free press in Australia and the urgent need for considered law reform to protect these core elements of our democracy.
“It is no surprise then that in this climate Australia’s ranking in the World Press Freedom Index has dropped from 19th to 25th in the past three years.”
The Human Rights Law Centre has recommended that:
the Parliament legislate a Federal Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms
the federal government accept and implement the recommendations contained in the two recent parliamentary inquiries into press freedom
the Public Interest Disclosure Act be urgently reformed to provide stronger protections for public interest whistleblowers.
“Right now Australia is the only liberal democracy without a Charter of Human Rights. This need to change – as long as we remain the outlier, our democracy is at risk and our rights face erosion,” Pender said.
“We cannot allow more secrecy and surveillance laws to be enacted, and often rushed through Parliament, without appropriate safeguards.
“Australians have a right to know what the government is doing in their name, journalists have a right to do their jobs without fear of prosecution, and whistleblowers have a right to protection under the law. We hope this inquiry will play a role in ensuring those rights are upheld.”
Media contact:
Evan Schuurman, Media and Communications Manager, 0406 117 937, evan.schuurman@hrlc.org.au