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ABC raid: Australia police search headquarters of public broadcaster
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Police have raided the Sydney headquarters of the Australian Broadcasting Corp (ABC), in a second day of searches targeting journalists.
Officers arrived at the public broadcaster with search warrants naming two reporters and the news director. The ABC has protested over the raid.
The police action is related to articles about alleged misconduct by Australian forces in Afghanistan.
On Tuesday police searched the home of a News Corp journalist, sparking alarm.
The leading journalists' union said the two raids - which police said were not connected - represented a "disturbing pattern of assaults on Australian press freedom".
According to the ABC, the search is about the 2017 investigative series known as The Afghan Files which "revealed allegations of unlawful killings and misconduct by Australian special forces in Afghanistan".
The broadcaster said the series was "based off hundreds of pages of secret Defence documents leaked to the ABC".
The Australian Federal Police said the warrant was in relation to "allegations of publishing classified material" and that it "relates to a referral received on 11 July 2017 from the Chief of the Defence Force and the then-Acting Secretary for Defence".
The Afghan Files were published by the ABC on 10 July 2017.
ABC journalists have been live-tweeting the raid since the police arrived on Wednesday morning.
ABC 'stands by its journalists'
In a statement ABC Managing Director David Anderson said the police raid "raises legitimate concerns over freedom of the press".
"The ABC stands by its journalists, will protect its sources and continue to report without fear or favour on national security and intelligence issues when there is a clear public interest," Mr Anderson said.
ABC NEWS
ABC News director Gaven Morris defended the two journalists who were named along with him in the search warrant.
"For the record, @DanielMOakes and @sclark_melbs are two of @abcnews' finest journalists," he tweeted.
"Honest and committed to telling the truth in the Australian public's interests. Just like @annikasmethurst. I'm proud of the difficult work they all do."
Alarm over other raids
On Tuesday, police raided the home of newspaper journalist Annika Smethurst, who reported last year that the government was considering a secret plan to spy on its citizens.
Her employer News Corp Australia, which publishes several of the country's most-read newspapers, condemned the raid as "outrageous and heavy-handed".
Police said their warrant related to "the alleged publishing of information classified as an official secret".
Also on Tuesday, Ben Fordham, a broadcaster for radio station 2GB, said that the government was investigating how he obtained information that up to six boats carrying asylum seekers had recently tried to reach Australia.
"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," Fordham said.
The Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance, which represents journalists, said: "Police raiding journalists is becoming normalised and it has to stop.
"This is nothing short of an attack on the public's right to know."
The two raids come weeks after a new centre-right government was elected. In a surprise result, Prime Minister Scott Morrison was returned to office.
He responded to Tuesday's raid on Ms Smethurst's Canberra home by saying that while he supported press freedom, "it never troubles me that our laws are being upheld".
The opposition Labor party has asked Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton to explain the raids.
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