Andrew Wilkie (Denison, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

Again, we might have to agree to disagree on that, because if anyone were to pull out a copy of the Public Interest Disclosure Act they would see, in black and white, that intelligence material and intelligence officials are specifically—explicitly—excluded from the protections of that act.

Mr Deputy Speaker, through you, I have another question for the government. This morning, the minister said words to the effect—I do not have them in front of me—of, 'Journalists have nothing to fear from section 35P so long as they do not endanger anyone.' These were words to the effect that journalists have nothing to fear so long as they do not 'endanger' anyone. That appeared to be a rewriting of section 35P. My understanding—and I would ask the minister to confirm this—is that the relevant section quite explicitly would impose a penalty of up to 10 years jail on a journalist simply for reporting the existence of any special intelligence operation. In fact, nowhere in the legislation is there the sort of qualification that was offered by the minister this morning, that it was really only to do with endangering someone.

This is not about how people might interpret it in the future; this is about the exact words in the bill and what will become the exact words in the law of the land, that journalists could be jailed for up to 10 years simply for reporting on a special intelligence operation if they know it is a special intelligence operation.

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