Australia’s surprising disregard for free speech
Free speech is a very different subject than the rights of journalists.<p>Australians by and large don&#x27;t want American style, unfettered free speech. And are quite happy with &quot;say whatever you want so long as you don&#x27;t libel or slander someone or some group of people&quot; approach. It&#x27;s what keeps our very multicultural society together.<p>What happened with the recent investigation of journalists is about the Australian government&#x27;s right to see the drafts and sources for articles that involve investigating national security matters. And in general harass and intimidate journalists to discourage such articles in the future.<p>You can fix the second problem by enshrining the rights of journalists in legislation without having to make it a freedom of speech issue.