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Home Affairs Department head Mike Pezzullo has suggested journalists intending to publish classified material should consult with the Government first, to ensure their reporting does not compromise national security.
Key points:
- Mike Pezzullo said he had never given classified information to a journalist
- Labor alleged there was the appearance of a "double standard" in the way the AFP went about its investigations
- Mr Pezzullo said he had liaised with journalists to stop potentially dangerous information from being published
Giving evidence to a parliamentary inquiry into press freedom, launched in the wake of two raids targeting the media, Mr Pezzullo was asked about what he saw as the balance between press freedom and national security.
He revealed there were about "two dozen" journalists he believed had the "judgement, depth and scale of knowledge" to responsibly report on national security and defence matters.
He said in the past he had been approached by reporters intending to publish classified information, and had worked with them in order to ensure their stories would not compromise the safety or integrity of operatives or national security operations.
But he was adamant his dealings with journalists never went as far as revealing classified information.
"Have you ever provided any classified or secretive information to a journalist?" Labor's Anthony Byrne asked.
"No," Mr Pezzullo replied.
"I didn't realise this was going to be sort of a mock trial.
"The reason I can give you that assurance is that as someone who both reads many classified documents and in many cases has created them over a long career, I know where the lines are."
Mr Pezzullo told the committee that people with security clearances who leaked classified information "should face the full force of the law".
The inquiry was sparked after back-to-back raids on the home of News Corp journalist Annika Smethurst — over a report on plans for extended spying powers — and the ABC's Sydney offices, over the Afghan Files series of reports.
Neither of the reports that provoked the search warrants revealed the identities of operatives, or the details of live operations.
The inquiry today examined how the Government could protect a free media while also maintaining appropriate national security protections.
Mr Pezzullo said better engagement between the Government and media behind the scenes could prevent leaks with potentially dangerous implications from being published.
He said similar discussions did already take place with journalists around some stories.
"There is a process of appropriate negotiation, which is not censorship," he said.
Mr Pezzullo said that in a democracy the media was needed as a "last resort" for when internal disclosures and oversight failed to weed out wrongdoing.
'Apparent double standard' in AFP investigations, inquiry hears
Senior officers from the Australian Federal Police (AFP) also appeared in front of the inquiry, rejecting suggestions a double standard was applied to how they investigated leaks.
Labor's Home Affairs spokeswoman Kristina Keneally pointed to apparent differences between the investigations into the ABC and Ms Smethurst, and the examination of a leak about the potential consequences of medevac laws, which the Government opposed.
Acting AFP Commissioner Karl Kent was unable to tell the committee whether officers had spoken to the author of that story, The Australian's Simon Benson, before the investigation was dropped.
Senator Keneally said that showed "the appearance of a double standard" when it came to investigating leaks that were beneficial to the Government's agenda.
"The AFP raided the home of a journalist to investigate a leak that was embarrassing to the Government but has not even bothered, it appears, to pick up the phone and call the journalist who had a leak that was beneficial to the Government," she said.
"The leak that Mr Benson received was described by the head of ASIO as 'seriously damaging and undermining all that ASIO stands for', but the AFP can't even say that they contacted Mr Benson."
In response, Acting Commissioner Kent said police had identified 200 potential sources of the medevac leak, which officers could not narrow down.
"Each case is unique in its own right, and there are complexities and differences with each matter. To assume that each matter would be approached in identical fashion is not how we would progress," he said.
"There is an investigative process which is consistent, but the manner in which it would be conducted as information is revealed would differ based on the circumstances."
Topics: journalism, information-and-communication, federal-parliament, parliament, government-and-politics, federal-government, australia
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