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Media outrage after police raid on Sunday Times newspaper RIVAL media groups have joined together to condemn police raids on a Perth newspaper, describing it as an attack on free speech. The department of Premier Alan Carpenter, a former journalist, admitted today making a complaint that led to the raid by 16 officers on the Perth newsroom of News Ltd's Sunday Times yesterday. The fraud squad officers were trying to find who leaked information about a $16 million advertising bill for taxpayers to help get the WA government re-elected. During the raid all exits at the Sunday Times building in Perth's inner-east were blocked and staff were subjected to bag searches when they left. The article, written by staff reporter Paul Lampathakis and published in February, quoted "government sources'' as saying the money was to be spent on strategic advertising campaigns ahead of an upcoming election. (Article continues below)
It said Treasurer Eric Ripper, as chairman of the cabinet sub-committee on communication, had "urgently'' asked the expenditure review committee, which he chaired, for $5.25 million for the first half of the year and a further $10.75 million until July next year. A search warrant executed by police was for documents relating to information held by Sunday Times employees about the investigation, including notes, scribblings and computer and phone records. A spokesman for the Department of the Premier and Cabinet said today the department had referred allegations of the unauthorised disclosure of a confidential document to the WA police and the Corruption and Crime Commission. "The matter was referred in accordance with usual departmental practice and to fulfil legal obligations under section 28 of the Corruption and Crime Commission Act 2003,'' the spokesman said in a statement. Both the editor of the newspaper and the journalists' union, the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance, have condemned the raid as an attack on free speech. It is the second time this year police have visited the newsroom. Earlier this month, police visited the newsroom to investigate claims by WA Attorney-General Jim McGinty that Mr Lampathakis had stolen computers and used a hacker to access the private details of patients at Royal Perth Hospital. Mr Lampathakis said the computers were left in a hospital laneway. Fairfax Media Corporate Affairs Director Bruce Wolpe today urged Mr Carpenter and WA Attorney-General Jim McGinty to respect press freedom in WA. "The actions by the state government in instigating such a raid betray a serious misjudgment about a free press and is an assault on the public's right to know about how their government spends taxpayer dollars,'' Mr Wolpe said. "We urge the premier and the attorney general to respect press freedom in Western Australia. CLICK ON THE BANNER TO BUY TERRORSTORM IN |
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