Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Centre Alliance) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

Centre Alliance is firmly of the opinion that the time has come for our nation to bring in a constitutional backstop to protect our free press and the right of all Australians to speak freely.

When the news broke last month that the Australian Federal Police had raided the home of a News Corp journalist and then ABC, it's fair to say it was like a blast of arctic air for Australia's fourth estate.

It was also a wake-up call for every Australian. In an era when public trust in politicians is at an all-time low, this very public act of enforcement was a direct assault on public interest journalism.

It sent a clear message to the media and their sources that they are at serious risk if they publish information the government doesn't want them to publish, even if that information is in the public interest.

At the time of the raids our home affairs minister said:

Nobody is above the law and the police have a job to do under the law.

But in the light of the government's complete lack of interest in having the AFP track down the source of the leaked ASIO briefing on the medevac laws earlier this year, it would appear some who choose to leak classified information are above the law, and that is deeply concerning.

This is why, more than ever, we need to revisit the legal protections Australia has for freedom of expression, including freedom of the press.

Our Federation forefathers didn't enshrine freedom of speech and a free press in our Constitution, because they believed common sense would prevail.

Our highest court has found that an implied freedom of communication exists under the Constitution in relation to political and government matters but the extent of that freedom is limited and our laws protecting sources are much weaker than they are in other comparable democracies.

Our world has changed and, as our government continues to bring in metadata and anti-terrorism laws in the name of national security, we need to ensure that we rely on more than a government's common sense to protect the civil liberties that make us a modern democracy.

On behalf of Centre Alliance I introduce the Constitution Alteration (Freedom of Expression and Freedom of the Press) 2019into this House today.

My Centre Alliance colleagues have already introduced mirror legislation in the other place.

This bill will enshrine the right of freedom of expression, including freedom of the press and other media, within the Constitution.

The proposed amendment will insert a new chapter and section in the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act 1900.

The new section will provide that the Commonwealth, state or territory must not limit freedom of expression, including freedom of the press and other media. However, a law of the Commonwealth, state or territory may limit the freedom if that limitation is reasonable and justifiable in an open, free and democratic society.

The proposed alteration would put a constitutional brake on efforts to supress freedom of expression to the detriment of our democratic and open society and it will set, we believe, a clear benchmark against which current laws of the Commonwealth, states and territories can be judged.

Under international law, freedom of expression is a fundamental human right.

Freedom of the press is included in freedom of expression and therefore it is important that the protection will also extend to the media, delivered in any form, so that the media may continue to contribute to a free and democratic society.

Last week our Parliamentary Library hosted a lecture by Australian journalist and academic Dr Julie Posetti who described herself as the canary in the coalmine when it came to sounding the warning bell about the erosion of press freedom.

Dr Posetti is the author of the 2017 UNESCO study Protecting journalism sources in the digital age which examined confidential communication by journalists with sources and whistleblowers in 121 countries, including Australia.

Dr Posetti provided an oversight of the study, which came up with an 11-point assessment tool for measuring the effectiveness of legal source protection frameworks internationally.

In her expert opinion of Australia's current laws, we failed on 10 of the 11 principles.

When asked for a solution, Dr Posetti said the right to freedom of expression, which includes freedom of the press, should be embedded in Australia's Constitution.

Failing that, Dr Posetti said Australia should be incredibly vigilant when passing any legislation regarding the unforeseen erosions of civil liberties including freedom of expression, freedom of the press and personal privacy.

In an era when the call to heed national security above all else trumps any dissenting voice in the parliament about laws affecting metadata and surveillance in public sphere, Centre Alliance calls for freedom of expression and freedom of the press to be embedded in Australia's Constitution.

I would like to provide my remaining time to the member for Clark.

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