MEAA demands rethink on asylum seeker secrecy
The Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance (MEAA), the union and industry advocate for Australia’s journalists, is concerned that the public’s right to know is being eroded by the veil of secrecy that surrounds asylum seeker policy.
Since the militarisation of customs and immigration under Operation Sovereign Borders, the constraints on media access to asylum seeker detention centres, and now the pursuit of whistleblowers who seek to reveal alleged human rights abuses on Manus Island and Nauru, the Australian public is being kept in ignorance of what is really being done.
There have now been two raids by Nauruan police on contractors and NGOs working with asylum seekers. The raids have seized phones, laptops, desktop computers and others devices – all in an effort to discover journalists’ sources for stories on how asylum seekers are being treated.
MEAA CEO Paul Murphy said: “The role of the media is to scrutinise the powerful and hold them to account. The Australian public has a right to know what the government is doing in our name.
“It is not justifiable in any circumstances to thwart legitimate public interest reporting on suspected infringement of the human rights of a refugee or asylum seeker.
“On the contrary, the public has a right to know how Australia’s obligations under Australian and international legal instruments are being met,” Murphy said.
“The government is using legislation to threaten whistleblowers with jail if they speak out. Any attempt to muzzle whistleblowers is an attempt to muzzle the truth. Going after whistleblowers means going after journalism.
“Wrapping government policy in red tape at best, or threatening people with jail at worst, is an appalling attack on freedom of expression and, by extension, an outrageous assault on press freedom and the public’s right to know,” he said.
“MEAA urges the Australian Government to lift the veil of secrecy so that the media can freely and legitimately speak to sources without fear of prosecution or harassment and report matters in the public interest so that our communities can make their own minds up about what the government is doing in our name,” Murphy said.
MEAA demands rethink on asylum seeker secrecy
The Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance (MEAA), the union and industry advocate for Australia’s journalists, is concerned that the public’s right to know is being eroded by the veil of secrecy that surrounds asylum seeker policy.
Last update: October 24, 2015
