Inquiry into the Evidence Amendment (Journalists' Privilege) Bill
2009
Information about the Inquiry
On 19 March 2009, the Senate referred the provisions
of the Evidence Amendment (Journalists' Privilege) Bill 2009 to the
Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs for inquiry and
report.
The Bill amends Part 3.10 Division 1A of the
Evidence Act 1995, which provides for communications made in
confidence to journalists in certain circumstances to be privileged at the
pre-trial and trial stages of civil and criminal proceedings. The
amendments will:
- ensure that a court has relevant public interest
factors in mind when exercising its discretion to direct that evidence
of a protected confidence or protected identity information not be given
in a proceeding;
- enable the court to consider any likely harm to
the journalist if the evidence were to be given;
- repeal the provisions for automatic loss of
privilege in cases of misconduct and make the issue of whether a
communication between a journalist and their source was made for an
improper purpose one of the several matters that a court must take into
account when exercising its discretion; and
- provide greater flexibility for the court in
balancing the relevant factors to which it must have regard when
exercising its discretion, by removing the existing requirement for
courts to give the greatest weight to any risk of prejudice to national
security.
The reporting date for this inquiry is 7 May 2009.
The Committee invites written submissions by
Thursday, 9 April 2009. Submissions should be sent to:
Committee
Secretary
Senate Standing Committees on Legal and Constitutional Affairs
Department of
the Senate
PO Box 6100
Parliament
House
Canberra ACT
2600
Australia
The committee
encourages the lodgement of submissions in electronic form. As the
secretariat is in the process of implementing a new system for lodging
submissions via the Parliament's website, you will find a link to submit
online in the box below. Alternatively, intending submitters requiring
further information could also contact the secretariat before lodging your
submission.
Notes to assist in preparing submissions are available
from the website
https://www.aph.gov.au/senate/committee/wit_sub/index.htm
or telephone the secretariat on 02 6277 3560, fax: 02
6277 5794, or e-mail at the above address.
Once the committee accepts your submission, it becomes
a confidential committee document and is protected by Parliamentary
Privilege. You must not release your submission without the committee’s
permission. If you do, it is not protected by Parliamentary Privilege. At
some stage during the inquiry, the committee normally makes submissions
public. Please indicate if you want your submission to be kept confidential.
Inquiries from hearing and speech impaired people
should be directed to the Parliament House TTY number (02 6277 7799). Adobe
also provides tools for the blind and visually impaired to access PDF
documents. These tools are available at: http://access.adobe.com/. If you
require any special arrangements in order to enable you to participate in a
committee inquiry, please contact the committee secretary.
For further information, contact:
Committee Secretary
Senate Standing Committees on Legal and Constitutional Affairs
PO Box 6100
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
Australia
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