Australian journalists will gain additional protection for reporting on Australian federal police operations that could previously have seen them jailed for up to two years.
A spokesman for the attorney general, George Brandis, confirmed the government will move amendments to the Crimes Act to provide some additional protection for journalists and others.
The protection would permit the reporting of “controlled operations” in certain circumstances where the report would not endanger an officer or prejudice an ongoing operation. These types of operations often involve AFP officers working undercover on drug stings and other covert missions.
The changes would mirror similar amendments to the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Act that Brandis recently introduced.
In 2014 the government created a new offence that potentially criminalised any disclosure by journalists and whistleblowers about “special intelligence operations.” The law was part of a broader package of national security reforms, and was seen as a direct response to the global revelations about electronic surveillance by the whistleblower Edward Snowden.
But the laws came under heavy scrutiny from news organisations, amid concern they could criminalise legitimate public interest reporting of intelligence operations where wrongdoing had occurred.
A review of the laws by the independent national security monitor Roger Gyles found they were likely to be unconstitutional and had a significant “chilling effect” on freedom of expression.
The Asio laws were amended to require that a person would not be committing an offence if “the disclosure will endanger the health or safety of any person or prejudice the effective conduct of a special intelligence operation”.
But the constitutional concerns about the Asio laws drew similar concerns about the law prohibiting publication of information about AFP operations, which the Asio offence was initially modelled on.
A spokesman for the attorney-general said: “The government has been of the view for some time that the two disclosure regimes (one for law enforcement and one for Asio) should be re-aligned, following the amendments made in response to the INSLMs report into section 35P of the ASIO Act.”
“Given the relevant provisions in the Asio Act were modelled on those in the Crimes Act, this is a sensible change.”
Guardian Australia understands the amendments to the Crimes Act would largely mirror the terms of the Asio Act, although the government is yet to put forward the amendments in parliament. The changes were first reported on Thursday by the Australian.
If the amendments were the same, they would still not cover AFP whistleblowers who speak out about potential police misconduct in the course of controlled operations.
While the changes to the Asio Act were welcomed by news organisations, there were still criticisms that they did not go far enough in protecting public interest reporting, and that they left whistleblowers still subject to criminal offences.
Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance chief executive, Paul Murphy, warned in February 2016 that, even with the changes to the Asio laws, journalists could still face jail.
