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Following the trespass at a Victorian abattoir by animal rights activist group Farm Transparency, the Federal Court has made a decision that has sparked backlash from the Human Rights Law Centre and the Alliance for Journalists’ Freedom.
Legal experts from the two bodies have applied to participate in the upcoming High Court hearing as questions arise around the limits and definition of freedom of the press.
The issue in question relates to the footage captured during the trespass, in which a recording of alleged animal cruelty was later shared with a federal regulator, Channel Seven, and uploaded to Farm Transparency’s website.
While the Federal Court initially declined to order a trust over the footage or an injunction to prevent its publication, the Full Court of the Federal Court held that Farm Transparency was not entitled to own the copyright of the footage or any copies, but held the copyright on trust for the abattoir operator. It was ordered to assign the copyright to the abattoir operator, permanently delete it and not publish in the future.
According to the Human Rights Law Centre and Alliance for Journalists’ Freedom, this was the first time such findings were made under Australian law.
In a joint statement, it was argued that the Full Court’s decision could impact whistleblowers and news organisations in cases that rely on copyright material to expose unlawful matters.
Both hope to raise public interest concerns relating to press freedom through participation in the hearing.
Executive director at the Alliance for Journalists’ Freedom, Peter Greste, outlined the risk of “giving those who want wrongdoing covered up additional legal ammunition to shut down public interest journalism”.
He said: “The ruling was unprecedented and marks a significant troubling development in Australian law. That is why we have sought leave to assist the High Court with our public interest perspective on these issues.”
The associate legal director at the Human Rights Law Centre Whistleblower Project, Kieran Pender, said: “Australia’s whistleblower laws are broken, and this case rings alarm bells as it could provide wrongdoers with another tool to hide corruption.”
He added: “Sometimes whistleblowers and journalists, inadvertently or intentionally, might act in ways that leave them open to allegations of unlawfulness to raise concerns in the public interest.”
“The law should not permit perpetrators of wrongdoing to use copyright law and equity to keep evidence of wrongdoing hidden, nor prevent third parties, including the media, [from] reporting on it.”
The hearing is set to be heard before the High Court on 5 May.
Amelia is a Professional Services Journalist with Momentum Media, covering Lawyers Weekly, HR Leader, Accountants Daily and Accounting Times. She has a background in technical copy and arts and culture journalism, and enjoys screenwriting in her spare time.
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