It’s not just the bushfires that are devouring Australia. National security powers are trumping freedom of information rights for citizens and journalists in what’s regarded as a democratic flu.
Unlike Canada, Australia has no bill or charter of rights that allow people to freely express themselves.
This is due to the tightening of national security laws since 2001.
Currently, Australia holds the world record for new national security laws that have been passed and/or amended since 2001.
Johan Lidberg, Swedish-Australian journalist and Associate Professor at Monash University says that freedom of speech in the country is the weakest he’s ever seen in a modern democracy.
Lidberg spoke at MacEwan University on Monday, January 27th to a group of journalism and communications students and faculty.
With such strict national security legislation, whistleblowing in Australia is illegal, with blowers facing up to three years in prison.
“If they disclose anything to anyone, be it a journalist or a private citizen, anything rating from how many paperclips they have in their department to where we’re going to buy our next submarines, if they disclose that to anyone without having authority from their superior they can face time in jail,” says Lidberg.
“We’re on this quite slippery slope that goes way beyond national security,” says Lidberg.
In June 2019, an Australian reporter’s home was raided by the Australian Federal Police (AFP), who was investigating a plan that the government had to spy on Australian citizens.
“That’s not worthy of a mature, liberal democracy,” says Lidberg.
While national security laws are a massive issue in Australia, it’s extremely difficult for journalists to report on them due to rigid whistleblowing laws.
“It all boils down to privacy,” says Lidberg.
The “democratic flu” as Lidberg calls it, is detrimental to climate change and the nation’s ability to reduce carbon emissions.
National security laws have consumed Australian parliament.
Lidberg says that the current government, which was elected in 2019, will only look at a 26-28 per cent reduction of carbon emissions until 2050, and will roll over their Kyoto credits.
“The current climate is dire,” says Lidberg
In 2016, the dying of the Great Barrier Reef had no impact on the election and barely any impact on the 2019 election.
Lidberg says that climate change is in the top three issues for Australians, however, climate change still lost in the 2019 election.
A 2019 poll from the Lowy Institute reveals that two-thirds of Australians think that climate change is a bigger threat to society than terrorism.
Lidberg suggests that while there were such enormous efforts towards national security, the government could have been creating legislation to reduce carbon emissions.
Lidberg is hopeful, but says “I’ll believe the turning point when I see it.”
Angela Amato 