Australian Cops Won't Charge Journalist for Revealing State Spy Plans

Journalist Annika Smethurst, whose home was raided by police looking for the source of a story disclosing government plans to spy on citizens, won't be charged, Australian Federal Police (AFP) said even as they claimed there was a “serious breach” of the law.

In April the country's High Court found invalid the warrant used to raid her home but did not order police to destroy seized material, leaving her open to prosecution.

Smethurst, who writes for the Sydney Herald Sun, published by News Corp. revealed  plans to extend the surveillance powers of the Australian Signals Directorate, upsetting the government of Prime Minister Scott Morrison who was accused by critics of trying to muzzle the media.

AFP Deputy Commissioner of Investigations, Ian McCartney, told reporters in Canberra the case involved “top security” national security information that “needed to be investigated,” but stopped short of saying where that would go.

Pressure had grown on the government over a raid on the headquarters of the state-run Australian Broadcasting Corporation looking for sources of a series about unlawful killings by Australian soldiers in Afghanistan, but McCartney denied the decision to drop charges against Smethurst was politically driven.

“No one will be prosecuted in relation to the unauthorised disclosure,” he said,  Guardian Australia reported, as he added the police were acting in good faith.

The raids brought outrage from citizens and press freedom groups that led the government to assure that journalists will not be prosecuted without the Attorney General’s consent.

In August 2019, Home Affairs Department Secretary Michael Pezzullo, said police were “closing in” on the suspect who he said, should “go to jail.”

In November, 2019 the paper said a raid on the former intelligence officer Cameron Jon Gill in September was conducted because police were investigating whether he was Smethurst’s source.

News Corp. has said Smethurst never revealed the source’s identity, even to her employer. Gill issued a statement through his lawyers  insisting he “did nothing wrong and was not responsible for the unauthorised disclosure”.

After the court struck down the warrant but left Smethurst open to prosecution, ABC News Director Gaven Morris called for reform to protect whistleblowers.

“The way public interest journalism is able to be undertaken in this country is a mess,” he said. “It's time to recognize that we have a right to know what goes on inside our democracy and it's time we go on and fix it,” he added.