They lie that the courts are the "people's court".
They lie that there are 3 tiers of government, i.e. law making bodies, that being federal, state and now apparently 'local government'.
They were exposed in subverting the High Court of Australia by removing the U.K. Monarch.
Now they're on the assault on people exposing corruption in government under whatever pretext, where the courts are stacked against the serfs.
See article from 4 Jun 2019 by news.com.au of the headline:
Radio star Ben Fordham targeted after Australian Federal Police raid political editor Annika Smethurst’s home over spy story
After raiding the home of a high-profile journalist, the Federal Police
is now going after broadcaster Ben Fordham over his reporting.
Annika Smethurst’s home in Canberra is being raided by Australian Federal Police officers. Picture: AAPSource:News Corp Australia
Just
hours after the Australian Federal Police raided the home of
high-profile journalist Annika Smethurst, broadcaster Ben Fordham has
revealed he’s also being targeted for his reporting.
The 2GB Drive presenter and Sky News contributor revealed he was the subject of a probe over his story yesterday
about six asylum seeker boats attempting to reach Australia.
An
hour after his report went to air yesterday, his producer was contacted
by an official from the Department of Home Affairs to advise the
material was “highly confidential”.
“In other words, we weren’t supposed to know it,” Fordham told listeners today.
“We were told Home Affairs would investigate the disclosure and they would like me to assist that investigation.”
He
was contacted again last night by “senior officials” and again this
morning, when he was told Home Affairs had initiated an investigation
that could lead to an AFP criminal investigation.
2GB Drive presenter Ben Fordham reveals his reporting also has him on the AFP’s radar. Picture: John FederSource:News Corp Australia
The
revelation came as Fordham spoke about the raid today on the Canberra
home of Smethurst, the Walkley Award-winning political editor of News
Corp Australia’s Sunday titles, including
The Sunday Telegraph.
“The
timing of this raid is interesting to me because only yesterday
afternoon I found out I was potentially facing a similar raid,” Fordham
said.
While he was told that he wasn’t the subject of potential charges, Home Affairs wanted him to assist in identifying his source.
“It was explained to me that only a limited number of people had access to the information we broadcast,” he said.
“The
chances of me revealing my sources is zero. Not today, not tomorrow,
next week or next month. There is not a hope in hell of that happening.”
Annika Smethurst confirmed reports her home is being raided by AFP officers but could not comment further.Source:News Corp Australia
The “heavy-handed” raid of Smethurst’s home this morning by several AFP offices has sparked widespread outrage.
The search warrant extended not just to her dwelling but also her mobile phone and computer.
The Daily Telegraph
reports the raid concerns a report published in April last year that
revealed the departments of Defence and Home Affairs were considering
new powers allowing Australians to be monitored for the first time.
Ms Smethurst’s
original article included images of top secret letters between Home Affairs Secretary Mike Pezzullo and Defence Secretary Greg Moriarty.
News Corp Australia, publisher of news.com.au, has condemned this morning’s raid.
“The
Australian public’s right to know information about government laws
that could impact their lives is of fundamental importance in our
society,” it said in a statement.
“This raid demonstrates a
dangerous act of intimidation towards those committed to telling
uncomfortable truths. The raid was outrageous and heavy handed.
“News
Corp Australia has expressed the most serious concerns about the
willingness of governments to undermine the Australian public’s right to
know about important decisions Governments are making that can and will
impact ordinary Australian citizens.
“What’s gone on this morning
sends clear and dangerous signals to journalists and newsrooms across
Australia. This will chill public interest reporting.”
Federal police officers leave Annika Smethurst’s home after conducting a raid. Picture: Kym Smith
Source:News Corp Australia
Annika Smethurst is a Walkley Award-winning journalist. Picture: AAPSource:News Corp Australia
The
top secret correspondence contained in Ms Smethurst’s original story
reportedly outlined a proposal to allow government spies to “proactively
disrupt and covertly remove” onshore cyber threats by “hacking into
critical infrastructure”.
The proposal would also give the cyber
spy agency, the Australian Signals Directorate, powers to snoop on the
emails, bank accounts and text messages of Aussies, with the approval of
the relevant home affairs and defence ministers.
Law currently prevents the agency from monitoring Australian citizens.
Broadcaster Ben Fordham has been contacted three times in 24 hours over a report he presented yesterday. Picture: Getty ImagesSource:Getty Images
The
Australian Lawyers Alliance said the law should protect journalists and
their sources from “harassment by police and security agencies”.
“Annika Smethurst’s story was clearly within the public interest,” ALA spokesman for criminal justice Greg Barns said.
“This
intimidating behaviour by the police poses a serious risk to our
democracy, and undermines the accountability of the government to the
people that it serves.
“Scrutiny of government agencies by the
media is critical to a democracy, and it is very concerning that these
security agencies seem to want to avoid any examination.”
The group Digital Rights Watch has also slammed the raid, describing it as a “gross abuse of national security powers”.
“It’s
incredibly worrying to see AFP officers carry out a raid on the home of
a political journalist working to reveal an important public interest
issue — a potential massive expansion of domestic capacity in Australian
spy agencies,” the organisation’s chairman Tim Singleton Norton said.
“We
fear the powers given to the AFP to seize and search Annika Smethurst’s
digital footprint represent a considerable risk to bold Australians who
choose to expose wrongdoing in the public services.
“This is a
gross abuse of national security powers — using them to reinforce a
culture of secrecy and lack of accountability in our law enforcement
apparatuses.”
In a statement, the AFP confirmed a search was under way at Ms Smethurst’s home.
“The
matter relates to an investigation into the alleged unauthorised
disclosure of national security information that was referred to the
AFP,” the statement read.
“Police will allege the unauthorised
disclosure of these specific documents undermines Australia’s national
security. No arrests are expected today as a result of this activity.”
The Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance, the union for journalists,
said the raid was “an outrageous attack on press freedom”.
“Yet
again, we have an example of a government aiming to punish those who
have brought to light vital information,” the MEAA’s media president
Marcus Strom said.
“Australians are entitled to know what their
governments do in their name. That clearly includes plans by government
agencies to digitally spy on Australians by hacking into our emails,
bank accounts and text messages.
“It is an outrage that more than a
year after the story was reported in April 2018 but just days after the
federal election result, the Federal Police are now raiding a
journalist’s home in order to seize documents, computers and a mobile
phone in order to track down the source.”
The MEAA called on Scott Morrison and his government to “show its support for press freedom”.
The digital rights organisation Electronic Frontiers Australia also expressed its condemnation.
“This
is an obvious attempt to bully and intimidate journalists reporting on
the latest attempted power grab by the already over-powerful Department
of Home Affairs,” it said in a statement.
A number of Ms Smethurst’s colleagues in Canberra have also expressed their concern.
David Crowe, chief political correspondent for
The Sydney Morning Herald and
The Age
newspapers, and current president of the Federal Parliamentary Press
Gallery, took to Twitter to describe the raid as “a huge concern”,
adding that her report “was clearly in the public interest”.
Amy Remeikis, political reporter for
Guardian Australia, described the AFP search as “seriously messed up”.
Samantha Maiden,
The New Daily’s political editor, said she asked Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton about Ms Smethurst’s original story.
“He
suggested the idea they were planning to spy on Australian citizens was
‘nonsense’ … today her house was raided … AFP are going through her
belongings.”
A spokesperson for Mr Dutton referred all queries to the AFP.
Shadow Home Affairs spokesperson Kristina Keneally said news about the raids came while Labor’s frontbench was meeting.
“We
don’t have any information to add at this point,” Senator Keneally
said. “It’s incumbent on the government and the AFP now to speak more on
this matter.”
Centre Alliance Senator Rex Patrick attacked the raid, saying it was a “heavy-handed effort to browbeat the media”.
“Ms
Smethurst’s journalism exposed important aspects of government plans to
extend surveillance powers for national security agencies,” Senator
Patrick said.
“That reporting informed parliamentary and public debate and is to be commended.”
He
said the execution of the search warrant at her home — not at her
office — more than a year after the report was published “reeks of
intimidation and retribution”.
“Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton and Home Affairs Secretary Mike Pezzullo clearly hate media scrutiny,” Senator Patrick said.
Ms
Smethurst has twice won the Walkley Award for Scoop of the Year, first
in 2015 for her expose of Bronwyn Bishop’s use of taxpayer funded
helicopters and again in 2017 for her reporting about Health Minister
Sussan Ley’s travel expenses.