While the ministerial direction represents a genuflection in the direction of press freedom, it provides nothing by way of protection for whistleblowers.
A range of laws allow Australian agencies such as local governments to peer over security agencies’ shoulder at your personal data.
Justin Lane/EPA
Under controversial national security laws, parts of your mobile phone data is accessible by federal police and counterterrorism agencies. But in reality dozens of other organisations can access it too.
Two Australian Federal Police officers walking out of the ABC Ultimo building after conducting a raid.
David Gray/AAP
Labor is proposing establishing a new parliamentary committee to look into press freedom; one that will deal with whistle blowers and have crossbench representation.
China is the source of growing frustrations between Canberra and Washington.
AAP
Ideally, Australia would introduce constitutional protections for media freedom. But, in the meantime, four laws need urgent reform to better balance those freedoms with national security.
A U.S. Navy F/A-18 Hornet launching from the USS Theodore Roosevelt on full afterburner.
U.S. Navy/Wikimedia
Many current and former US military leaders call climate change a serious national security threat, but few of them mention the Defense Department’s big carbon footprint.
This week’s police raids have forced us to think again about the role of the media in a democracy.
David Gray/AAP
After this week’s police raids on media outlets, we need a better way to balance two crucial elements of our democracy - national security and press freedom.
This week’s raids on journalists and media outlets show not just the risk to those doing work in the public interest, but the potentially chilling effect it will have on more such journalism being brought to light.
Julian Assange’s indictment under the Espionage Act, a sweeping law with heavy penalties for unauthorized receiving or disclosing of classified information, poses a threat to press freedom.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has played a lot of golf with President Donald Trump over the past two years.
Japan's Cabinet Public Relations Office via Kyodo/via Reuters
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe needs the US to confront North Korea, revitalize Japan’s economy and boost his standing at home. And he knows flattery is the way to this president’s heart.
Sacked: former UK defence secretary Gavin Williamson was dismissed following the alleged leak of sensitive government information.
EPA-EFE/Facundo Arrizabalaga
Politicians have been leaking secrets to journalists as long as newspapers have existed. But it’s getting more difficult thanks to surveillance technology.
Keating’s comments gave the government an opening to shift the debate onto security.
Lukas Coch/AAP
US history is filled with instances where one partisan side charges that the other side’s positions will lead to national ruin. Now, both sides accuse the other of betraying their country.
Atlassian boss Scott Farquhar says the government’s encryption laws ‘threatens jobs’.
AAP Image/Erik Anderson
A forum of Australian tech companies this week was told the government’s encryption laws could see Australian jobs moved overseas. Labor’s promised to “fix” the laws, but that could be too late.
Morrison took up Jacinda Ardern’s phrase when she said of Muslims “they are us”, and applied it to Australia.
Ellen Smith/AAP
In his address in the wake of the New Zealand attack, on the theme of managing differences, Morrison said it was not a matter of “disagreeing less, but disagreeing better”.
Without a solid national plan to confront climate threats, there’s plenty more hardship on the horizon.
AAP Image/Rob Blakers
With heatwaves, droughts and fires all on the rise, the federal government is urged to merge its separate strategies on disaster resilience and climate readiness.