{"id":3333,"date":"2019-07-24T04:00:58","date_gmt":"2019-07-24T04:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/?p=3333"},"modified":"2019-07-24T04:00:58","modified_gmt":"2019-07-24T04:00:58","slug":"press-freedom-under-the-microscope-as-senate-launches-inquiry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/2019\/07\/24\/press-freedom-under-the-microscope-as-senate-launches-inquiry\/","title":{"rendered":"Press freedom under the microscope as Senate launches inquiry"},"content":{"rendered":"

Freedom of the press and whistle-blower protection will finally get the hearing they deserve as the Senate votes in favour of an inquiry to be chaired by Senator Hanson-Young.
\n\u201cThis week\u2019s arrest of four French journalists highlights how badly we need to rethink press freedom in Australia,\u201d Greens media spokesperson Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.
\n\u201cPress and whistle blower protections have been steadily eroded and the government just wants to sweep this under the carpet.
\n\u201cToday the Senate voted for an inquiry into press freedom and whistle-blower protection showing that there are some in our Parliament who care about a frank and fearless media.
\n\u201cThe raids on the ABC and a Newscorp journalist sent chills through the country. The erosions of freedoms in Australia must be wound back.
\n\u201cThe ability of citizens to speak truth to power must be maintained and that is why whistle blowers must be protected and journalists allowed to do their job.
\n\u201cThis inquiry will get to the bottom of what has gone on and ensure a future for a free press in Australia.\u201d
\nTerms of reference<\/u>
\nThat the following matters be referred to the Environment and Communications References Committee for inquiry and report by the third sitting day of December 2019:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. disclosure and public reporting of sensitive and classified information, including the appropriate regime for warrants regarding journalists and media organisations and adequacy of existing legislation;<\/li>\n
  2. the whistle blower protection regime and protections for public sector employees;<\/li>\n
  3. the adequacy of referral practices of the Australian Government in relation to leaks of sensitive and classified information;<\/li>\n
  4. appropriate culture, practice and leadership for Government and senior public employees;<\/li>\n
  5. mechanisms to ensure that the Australian Federal Police have sufficient independence to effectively and impartially carry out their investigatory and law enforcement responsibilities in relation to politically sensitive matters; and<\/li>\n
  6. any related matters.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Freedom of the press and whistle-blower protection will finally get the hearing they deserve as the Senate votes in favour of an inquiry to be chaired by Senator Hanson-Young. \u201cThis week\u2019s arrest of four French journalists highlights how badly we need to rethink press freedom in Australia,\u201d Greens media spokesperson Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said. \u201cPress … Continue reading “Press freedom under the microscope as Senate launches inquiry”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aussie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3333"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3333\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}