The federal police raid the ABC's Sydney headquarters over a story known as The Afghan Files.Credit:Nine
The material seized related to a 2017 report calledThe Afghan Files,which relied on leaked defence documents.
The broadcaster's challenge to the warrant is due to be heard in the Federal Court over three days from October 28. The ABC will argue it was"legally unreasonable"for the AFP to seek a search warrant in the circumstances and for the Local Court to issue it.
In a preliminary round on Monday,the broadcaster sought to amend its case to widen the range of allegations made against the federal police and the Local Court registrar who issued the warrant.
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This included an allegation that the decisions to seek and issue the warrant were"affected by jurisdictional error"because neither party took into account a range of"relevant considerations",such as"the very significant intrusion of privacy that the search warrant purported to authorise","the importance of the protection of[journalists'] sources",and"the public interest in investigative journalism".
But in a decision on Monday,reasons for which were published on Tuesday, Justice Wendy Abraham rejected the ABC's bid to amend its case to include those allegations.
Justice Abraham said the claims were"speculative at best"and"the only basis on which to allege that these public policy considerations were not taken into account was the fact that the warrant was issued and sought".