Greens senator David Shoebridge has warned against giving the new national commission the power to punish the media if it obtained information about an investigation.Credit:James Alcock
The debate comes after a Victorian court granted the Independent Broad-based Anti-Corruption Commissionan injunction againstThe Age to prevent it from publishing information from a draft report about state government grants including decisions involving Premier Daniel Andrews.
The Centre for Public Integrity,a non-profit group that has called for the new watchdog,said the draft law to set up the National Anti-Corruption Commission gave it the power to issue directions to keep reports secret.
It also concluded that section 101 of the National Anti-Corruption Commission Bill could be applied to journalists and would enable the commission to seek penalties of up to two years in jail for those who breached the directions.
Loading
Shoebridge,a member of the parliamentary committee that is considering the draft bill,warned against punishing the media.
“It would be a significant mistake of principle for the NACC to have powers to punish journalists for doing their job,” he said.
“Whatever obligations might be appropriate for witnesses and participants in an inquiry,there is no public interest in automatically extending them to third parties such as journalists.