Australian Federal Police Raids on Media: Justified? - Essay Sample

Introduction

I take this opportunity to welcome all of you in our meeting today to talk about the issue of federal police here in Australia raiding the media which have been an issue of concern for several years. The Australian Federal Police is a national and principal national law enforcing agency of the government of Australia; its role is an investigation of crime and protection of the national security. This paper will be a speech on the justification of the Australian Federal police raiding on the media, which is an issue that has been on debate for ages.

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The Australian federal police (AFP) have been conduction media raids on several occasions. These raids are justified because they are conducted to protect the interest of the public and not being given misleading information. We, as the citizens of Australia, should appreciate these media raids that are conducted by the AFP. The AFP has been raiding journalists recently, for instance, federal police raided the home of the News Corp journalist Annika Smethurst over a story that she published in April 2018, the story reported that the government was considering giving spy agencies power to spy on Australians(Kane, 2019). I know you seated there may be upset by the decision of the AFP to raid her home, but you don't have to be upset. The story that was written by Anika Smethurst was leaked classified documents that had been published in the department of defense.

Various things need secrecy and privacy from the government. For example health records of foreigners, their financial records, or the details of the operation of the security services. These records should not be accessed by any person who is not in the cohort of the agency. What is the outcome whenever everything fails? .That is the AFP have to conduct raids on the media for protecting confidential information.

The government has the right of conducting the media raids because it supports press freedom, but this does not guarantee anyone power over the law. The minister of home affairs petter Dutton once said, " Australia has rules and regulations for the protection of Australia national security. No department of the community should be worried about media raiding by the AFP such as politicians, journalists ad the law implementation because some of the raids are conducted by the AFP because some criminal investigations are at times being investigated and can never be ignored.

The raids and investigations that are conducted are related to information of the national security, who has accessed the data and hoe the information is handled (perper, 2019). The documents that are classified as top secret are the material subject of the investigations and search warrant. Compromising such information could result in serious damages to the national interest, individuals, and organizations.

Media is an important element in society because it informs the society of the activities happening in the state. However, Media raids by the AFP are not warred against media or any form of suppression but rather investigations about the publication of secrets of the country. I know the majority of us seated here may be thinking that media raids are a demonstration of intimidation acts towards persons who are revealing the truth which may be unbearable to some ears. Many people believe attacks are a method of deterring forth estates such as David McBride who was charged with the leaking of Afghan files, but this is not the case.

Let's imagine this scenario whereby every activity that takes place in our country is published by the press, and it is spread through twitter, Instagram, and Facebook platforms. This information could be accessed by any person who has access to the media platforms, some of the people who could have access to this data could be enemies of progress such as terrorist ad oppositions parties. Majority of people have the desire of reading our investigative reports and through use of media to air out our views the information van be accessed by anyone anywhere and at any time .hence exposing the progress and the faults of the country could be a loophole for attacks or even coup. With this understanding, it would be vital for the AFP to conduct raids on the media is a form of protection of the general public and not a form of suppression. There is a need to change our mindset on this issue of media raiding by the AFP.

According to the Australian federal police, Neil Gaughan was being interviewed by the media and claimed that the government was not involved in the raids or individual ministers into the information released by the ABC and News Corp Australia(Dowling, 2019). The decision for carrying out the raids was solemnly his. Some of us think that the media has failed in giving support to their journalists, giving the AFP a chance to harass their workers, but this is not the matter. The AFP is trying to gauge the information that is released by the press for protection of the country and not their benefit.

We should all understand that AFP main aim is prevention, investigation, and interruption of transnational crimes. AFP conducting media raids is just a form of securing the nation from its enemies. The media personnel who have been raided and their homes searched need to accept the activity was conducted in good faith and safety of Australia but not a form of embarrassment and oppressing their freedom of speech. The national journalists should try and publish information which cannot cause chaos .for instance some documents leaked concerning the special forces who had engaged in unlawful murdering and misconduct in Afghanistan.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the Australian Federal Police have been conducting media raids on the whistleblowers for several years. The intentions of these raids are the protection of useful data of the nation, which whenever it is exposed to the public may result in various problems such as planned attacks and coups from opposition parties. Also, trial in the court of law by various departments of human rights .we need to understand that the raids are conducted for our benefits and not for political reasons. I take this chance to thank all of you for honoring this invitation of attending this summit today so that we can discuss on the matter of AFP raiding the media which is an act that has justifications and not an illegal act as some of us might think.

References

Dowling, s. (2019). Australian media cry wolf as the Federal Police raid the ABC and a News Corp journalist's home. Kangaroo Court of Australia.

Kane, b. (2019). Australian media decry raids on national broadcaster ABC and News Corp. Reuters.

Perper, r. (2019). Australian Federal Police raid the offices of the country's national broadcaster over a series of government leaks related to unlawful killings in Afghanistan. Business Insider.