Under the country's new metadata laws, which came into effect last year, the Australian federal government was previously able to gain access to the phone and web records of journalists without needing to first obtain a warrant. However, this right of access has since been tweaked in response to the push-back from several Australian media organisations that are concerned about the privacy of journalists and their sources. Now, the federal government will need to obtain a warrant through a 'secret' court hearing before they are able to access journalists' communication records.
Public interest advocates
Under the new procedure, journalists will not be notified when a warrant for their personal information is sought. Instead, a new 'public interest advocate' position has been created by Prime Minister Turnbull to represent the interests of journalists in closed-door warrant hearings, which will take place in secret and without notifying the journalist involved. According to documents released by the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, the PM has appointed two former judges to the newly-created public interests advocate posts. They are former Queensland court of appeal judge John Muir and former South Australian Supreme Court judge Kevin Duggan, both of whom have been brought on for a five-year term. Though the advocates have be tasked with safeguarding journalists' sources and representing their interests, their exact role during the data access hearings will never be disclosed to journalists nor the public. Source: The Guardian
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