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Michael Hedges June 7, 2019 - Follow on Twitter

For investigative reporters and their editors secrets are stock in trade. Nothing moves the media needle more than that exclusive report based on some bit of information finally meeting the public eye. All sorts of people want something - from the embarrassing to the illegal and on to the immoral - kept private. Most reporters and editors - not all, obviously - know the difference between what is and is not in the public interest.

For investigative reporters and their editors secrets are stock in trade. Nothing moves the media needle more than that exclusive report based on some bit of information finally meeting the public eye. All sorts of people want something - from the embarrassing to the illegal and on to the immoral - kept private. Most reporters and editors - not all, obviously - know the difference between what is and is not in the public interest.

This week agents of the Australian Federal Police (AFP), along with technical specialists, paid visits to public broadcaster Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and the home of a News Corp Australian investigative reporter. The AFP was looking for secrets about secrets; in these cases the investigative reporters’ sources, the scurrilous bums often referred to as leakers. In both instances the AFP obtained search warrants.

Under Australian law it is illegal under the Crime Act of 1914 to expose official secrets, though the parts specifically cited (part 6 and 7) were moved to the Criminal Code in December 2018. That law is based on the onerous British Official Secrets Act of 1911 and 1989, which many countries adopted. Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were arrested, jailed, tried and convicted under Myanmar’s Official Secrets Act that originated under British colonial rule.

On Tuesday the AFP agents entered the Canberra home of News Corp Australia investigative reporter and political editor Annika Smethurst and searched for secrets about secrets. Her report published in April 2018 detailing government agency plans to spy on citizens - “Let Us Spy on Aussies” - was based on insider leaks. The warrant signed immediately after publication (April 29, 2018) was not executed until this week. All the AFP would say, hours after the raid, was that it involved an investigation into “the alleged publishing of information classified as an official secret, which is an extremely serious matter with the potential to undermine Australia’s national security.” Since joining the Canberra Herald Sun in 2015, Ms Smethurst has won “scoop of the year” awards twice, both reporting on inappropriate financial activities of Australian politicians. Both, then, made career changes.

The AFP Wednesday (June 5) visit to ABCs Sydney headquarters was a bit different, not least with live on-the-scene TV coverage. The work product of ABC investigative reporters Dan Oakes and Sam Clark, who normally work from ABCs Melbourne office, was named in the search warrant. Also named was news producer producer Samuel Clark and news director Gaven Morris. The AFP had notified the ABC in advance; thus, plenty of lawyers were on hand. Indeed, ABC News lawyers and the AFP had been “arguing for months,” said the Australian Financial Review (June 6). The search warrant, said ABC News executive editor John Lyons, quoted by News Corp Australia online portal news.com.au (June 5), included authorization to “add, copy, delete or alter” material on ABC computers.

The material of interest to the AFP came from a series of investigative reports broadcast on ABC in 2017 detailing alleged misconduct by Australian special forces in Afghanistan between 2009 and 2013. Leaked defence ministry documents were at the center. The reports came with the title The Afghan Files and stirred considerable heat when broadcast. A former Defence Department lawyer was arrested in March, charged with leaking classified material related to The Afghan Files.

Between the two raids, only hours apart, Sydney 2GB Radio talk show host Ben Fordham said he, too, is subject of a Department of Home Affairs investigation regarding his reports on asylum seekers.

To say that Australia’s news media is up in arms would be a gross understatement. Between the ABC and News Corporation Australia, at least on this issue, there is no daylight.

“All media organisations should be concerned about who’s going to be next,” said Sunday Telegraph deputy editor Clair Harvey to ABC News (June 5). “There will be more raids. That’s inevitable. There are plenty of stories I can think of that the government might be targeting next. This is a really chilling example of what happens when government thinks they aren’t going to be held to account.” That Ms Smethursts’ office at the Sydney Telegraph was not also searched, just her home, was odd, added Ms Harvey. Sunday Telegraph is part of News Corporation Australia.

“This is, in my view, a chilling development for the Australian public,” said ABCs Lyons. “This is not just about the media, this is about the public’s right to know.” That the Melbourne ABC offices of Mr. Oakes and Mr. Clark, where they normally work, were not part of the search warrant was odd, added Mr. Lyons.

“The raid was unequivocal intimidat ion,” said News Corp Australasia executive chairman Michael Miller. “It was an affront to press freedom and demonstrated an alarming escalation to silence those who publish truths the government does not want made public.''

In the meantime, government leaders from the top down are running from all this. "The AFP conduct the investigations on their own initiative and they’re the ones that should be commenting on their investigations, not me,” said Prime Minister Scott Morrison, in Europe for D-Day Memorials. “These are matters for the AFP, not the government.” Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton and Attorney-General Christian Porter claimed no knowledge of the raids, although Minister Dutton, legally, would have signed off on the search warrants.

This left acting AFP commissioner Neil Gaughan to face reporters at AFP headquarters. “They were search warrants, not raids,” he groused, refusing to explain why agents leafed through every page of Ms Smethursts cookbooks during their seven hour visit. 'I reject the claim in the last few days that we are trying to intimidate journalists or conduct a campaign against the media,” he continued.

In 1971 a special investigations unit was established within the administration of US President Richard Nixon to ferret out leaks of sensitive and ultimately embarrassing information. It was called the White House Plumbers, comprised of dodgy characters. One of their most infamous capers was to break into the offices of Daniel Ellsberg’s psychiatrist, Lawrence Fielding. Mr. Ellsberg had leaked the renowned Pentagon Papers, which detailed secrets of US involvement in Viet Nam. Another was the break-in at the Watergate office complex of the Democratic National Committee. All of that was discovered by investigative reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. Ultimately, Richard Nixon was forced to resign the presidency.

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