Govt has 'something to hide'
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From AAP
03feb02
THE federal government was proving it had something to hide with planned laws cracking down on whistleblowers, civil libertarians have said.
NSW Council for Civil Liberties president Cameron Murphy said whistleblowers were vital to democracy and in holding the government accountable for bad decisions.
The government hopes to pass the Criminal Code Amendment Bill which it says is aimed at toughening laws for espionage and the leaking of documents from Australian spy agencies.
But the bill will also hit public servants who leak embarrassing information to the media.
Media outlets themselves will also face prosecution, and jail terms of up to two years, for receiving and publishing the information.
Mr Murphy said if the laws had been in place last year, the details surrounding former defence minister Peter Reith's misuse of his Telecard would never have been made public.
He said since September 11, the government had brought in a series of laws that played on the public's legitimate concerns about community safety.
"This is becoming a serious problem, where in the wake of September 11 the community has legitimate fears about security, but government has been acting by bringing in sweeping new powers that are simply going too far," he told Sky News Australia.
"All governments are fearful of people leaking (information) but that's part of the democratic process, and it is something that we should be upholding and protecting, not something that the government should be cracking down on.
"Unfortunately, they talk about espionage but the focus of this legislation is going to be on ordinary public servants who are just trying to do what is in the community's benefit, and they're going to face severe penalties along with anybody that decides to publish the information that they leak."
Mr Murphy said instead of preventing espionage leaks, the new laws were simply an attempt by the government to cover up political embarrassment.
"If the government doesn't fear the information that's being leaked, there shouldn't be a problem," he said.
"They're going to try and cover their tracks by bringing in these significant penalties, and that's only going to work to the community's detriment."
Mr Murphy said the government should re-think the laws.
He said if the government goes ahead with them, they should contain definitions which limits the penalties to espionage.