Leak leads to gag claim

Sheena MacLean21 July 2005POSSIBLE contempt charges against two Herald Sun journalists over an article damaging to the Howard Government is an attempt to gag the media from finding out about the functions of government, the newspaper's editor-in-chief, Peter Blunden, said yesterday. A public servant, alleged to be the source of information in the news report, is facing criminal charges and could be jailed if convicted. The two journalists, Michael Harvey and Gerard McManus, could also face jail if they decline to identify the source of the report that exposed a plan not to deliver $500 million in extra pension benefits to war veterans and war widows following the Clarke review into veterans' entitlements. It was published on February 20 last year. Cabinet had already rejected the plan but the then veterans affairs minister, Danna Vale, was dumped from the portfolio to the backbench after the federal election. "We are most disappointed and deeply concerned that our people and an alleged whistleblower have been chased and hounded in this way," Mr Blunden said. "It is a worrying development and just makes no sense to us. They've reported a legitimate story." He said the affair had nothing to do with protecting national security but was about "protecting political hides". The commonwealth public servant, Desmond Patrick Kelly, has been accused of being the whistleblower and will stand trial in Melbourne. He has been charged with one count of unauthorised disclosure of information that, under the Crimes Act, carries a maximum penalty of two years' jail. The journalists were summoned to appear at Mr Kelly's preliminary court hearing on July 7 at which McManus declined to answer whether he knew Mr Kelly. The Director of Public Prosecutions is expected to grant indemnity from self-incrimination but the journalists could face contempt of court charges, and jail, if they decline to give evidence. Mr Blunden said Canberra had functioned and lived off leaks for decades. An important public benefit flowed from journalists protecting their sources and, unless they did so, the flow of information to the public would be impeded. "This is about government policy and this is about a minister who was inept, mishandling the portfolio, who was severely embarrassed by an accurate report," he said. The Herald Sun case coincides with the jailing in the US of New York Times political reporter Judith Miller for contempt. Her case has sparked a campaign for federal laws to give US journalists a legal right to protect the identity of sources. Miller was sentenced to four months in jail for refusing to co-operate with a federal grand jury investigating the leaking of information that led to the unmasking of Valerie Palme as an undercover CIA agent, even though she did not write a story. Palme's husband, Joseph Wilson, is a former US ambassador who publicly criticised President George W. Bush's use of intelligence to justify the invasion of Iraq. http://theaustralian.com.au report.