#RightToKnow campaign: Calare MP Andrew Gee says free press fundamental to democracy

Australia's Right to Know, a coalition of about 20 media organisations and industry groups including Australian Community Media (the producer of this newspaper), wrote to all MPs and senators last week after Prime Minister Scott Morrison told question time he would not rule out pursuing ABC journalists Dan Oakes and Sam Clarke and News Corp journalist Annika Smethurst over the publication of classified documents.

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"A free press is a fundamental principle of our democracy. It's always been that way and always should be," Mr Gee said.

"I've got an open mind on options for improvements, but I think it's important to wait for the Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security to report to the Parliament and then consider what changes to bring in. Improvements need to be thoughtful, sensible and workable for all Australians."

On Monday, October 21 the front pages of all 14 of ACM's daily newspapers, like other leading newspapers around the country, were symbolically censored to highlight the need to fight for the public's right to know in the face of increasing attempts by government and government agencies to suppress information, prosecute whistleblowers and criminalise legitimate public interest journalism.

Mr Gee said the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security had been tasked with reporting on the exercise of law enforcement and intelligence powers on freedom of the press and it was due to report on November 28.

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"Issues such as contested warrants and whether to review the Freedom of Information system are also being looked at by the committee," he said.

"The Australian Government is also currently looking at ways to improve the public Interest disclosure scheme which enables public officials to raise suspected wrongdoing within the Commonwealth public sector.

"Issues such as defamation laws are basically state matters which are also being looked at by them at the moment."

Labor has backed the #righttoknow campaign.

Read more about how other MPs and Senators responded.

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