HRLC senior lawyer Kieran Pender posited: “Bernard Collaery, David McBride and Richard Boyle are each on trial for helping expose serious wrongdoing. Their actions have helped ensure important accountability and change, and yet they are being punished. That is profoundly undemocratic.”

Mr Pender explained why World Press Freedom Day was an appropriate day to make this request: “Today of all days, when the world recognises the vital role that journalists and their sources play in democratic accountability, we call on both major parties to commit to dropping these three prosecutions immediately if elected.”

HRLC also used World Press Freedom Day to call on the elected party in the upcoming federal election to reform laws relating to whistleblowing. According to HRLC, the Public Interest Disclosure Act 2013 was examined in 2016 and reforms were recommended. HRLC said that the government accepted the suggestions in 2020; however, no changes have been made.

Mr Pender stated: “We urge whoever wins to commit to long overdue reform to protect whistleblowers.”

Mr Pender commented that the fact that whistleblowers might serve time in prison, as well as dealing with psychological and financial hardship from being prosecuted, is a “stain on our democracy”.

“Whistleblowers and journalists make Australia a better place,” he went on.

“They hold those who commit wrongdoing, including governments, to account. Whistleblowers should be protected, not punished.”

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According to the United Nations, World Press Freedom Day was first initiated in 1993. Highlighting an event to mark the day in New York this year, the UN stated that World Press Freedom Day “serves as an occasion to inform citizens of the violations of press freedom and remind governments of the need to respect their commitment to press freedom”.

The article continues: “It is a day to reflect on issues of press freedom and professional ethics as well as to support media professionals, who are the targets of the restraint, or abolition, of press freedom. Equally important, World Press Freedom Day recognizes and remembers journalists who lost their lives in the pursuit of a story.”

Lawyers Weekly also recently covered HRLC’s involvement in a request for honesty throughout and after the federal election: ‘Disinformation is incredibly dangerous’: 16 organisations call for honesty in the upcoming election.

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