Secrecy laws to be wound back in 'win' for journalists

National security laws targeting journalists who receive sensitive and secret information will be wound back after being found excessive. An offence for journalists receiving or possessing classified information - even if they don't disclose it - is set to be repealed after the federal government accepted findings of a review into Australia's national security laws. Excessive secrecy laws could undermine trust and confidence in intelligence agencies and law enforcement, as well as having "a chilling effect" on public interest journalism, the national security legislation watchdog found. "There is some work of intelligence and security agencies that is genuinely secret and needs to be kept so but ... too much secrecy or disproportionate laws is not helpful," Independent National Security Legislation Monitor Jake Blight said. "Repealing this offence is a balanced and reasonable change." The federal government accepting this recommendation was a "win for journalism", Mr Blight said. "It will still be a crime to recklessly or intentionally disclose information that harms national security," he noted. "There will still be a defence for journalists who reasonably believe the disclosure is in the public interest." Recommendations including curtailing parts of a "deemed harm" offence that doesn't require any actual harm or risk of harm to be proved and not basing an offence simply on the secrecy classification a document has were also accepted. But broadening the definition of what causes harm to Australia's interests is being considered to offset any unintended gaps in protecting classified information, the government's response to the monitor's recommendations said. The repeal was "a broadly positive step for transparency and open government in Australia", Human Rights Law Centre's associate legal director Kieran Pender said. "Successive reviews have found that Australia's secrecy laws are unduly sweeping, disproportionate and have no place in a healthy democracy," he said. "Reform is urgent and overdue." The attorney-general needed to urgently deliver on his pledge to reform whistleblower protections, he said, saying a lack of legal safeguards "are having a chilling effect on accountability". Secrecy offences played an important role in preventing top secret information leaking but there were concerns about how many were in place and their appropriateness, Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said. Improvements to public sector whistleblowers and greater oversight were brought in as part of the first tranche of reforms to the Public Interest Disclosure Act while a second tranche of broader changes is still being considered.