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April 15, 2020 23: 02:53
A News Corp reporter at the centre of an Australian Federal Police rob on her home which was discovered to have actually been invalid by the High Court states the win is a “small triumph” however not the end of the legal fight.
The warrant utilized by Australian Federal Policeman to browse the house of journalist Annika Smethurst last year was thrown away by the High Court on Wednesday, but police will be enabled to keep the materials they seized in the raid.
Bottom line:
- The court found the warrant utilized to search Ms Smethurst’s house was not correctly released
- The legend triggered issues over press liberty, but the court did not rule on that issue
- Ms Smethurst’s reports analyzed strategies to broaden spying powers
The court all ruled the warrant was invalid however was divided on whether police should be required to hand back what they took.
Ms Smethurst’s house was robbed after the Sunday Telegraph published a story she wrote on strategies to broaden the powers of the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD).
The story consisted of pictures of a file produced by the ASD marked “secret” and “top secret”, leading the AFP to argue Ms Smethurst and the Sunday Telegraph had broken the law