Bid to unify journalist shield laws

The Greens have welcomed the news that the Government will pursue nationally consistent journalist shield laws. However, they have warned that this will offer limited protection from the Government's proposed data retention scheme. 

Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus has this week unveiled a major push to strengthen journalists' shield laws and streamlining the much-maligned scheme to protect whistleblowers in the public service. The reform will see the establishment of uniform state and federal protection for journalists' confidential sources by eliminating the differences between five separate shield laws.

The changes will also encompass whistleblower protection, with the introduction of a series of amendments to create the a comprehensive protection regime for public servants who reveal wrongdoing.

However, these reforms do not provide protection from metadata surveillance, which has become a hot button issue in the wake of the US scandal surrounding the PRISM program. 

"Data retention has serious consequences for press freedom. It is impossible for journalist shield laws or whistleblower laws - basic requirements in a functioning democracy - to be effective if data retention will allow for hunting down sources through telephone and email records," said Greens Senator Scott Ludlam.

"If the Government is serious about shield laws that will help the media hold government and corporate power to account - it must abandon the data retention scheme and do all it can to refuse and resist foreign governments spying on Australians."

At present, government agencies can obtain access to data, including call number, time and location of phone calls, from telecommunications companies through internal authorisation, without judicial approval. 

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