Major Projects for Journalists' Freedom

Interested in supporting one of our projects?
The AJF has Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR) status.

Our Model for Change

Australia is the world’s only liberal democracy without constitutional protection for press freedom. We believe media freedom needs to be enshrined in law to protect the rights of journalists. But if they have rights, they also have responsibilities. That is why our plan to establish a professional association is such an important part of our model for change.

Our Submissions

We regularly submit to government and government agency enquiries to ensure that media freedom is at the forefront of policy making and political debates.

Media Freedom Act

Our Media Freedom Act has been the product of five years of research, drafting, and policy development. The act borrows from well-established law in Australia and the United Kingdom to create robust protection for journalism without unduly compromising national security or state secrets.

Latest Update
This project is advanced. After five years of work with leading law firms, we have completed a draft of the Act. We are now in the process of socialising the Act, and lobbying government to get it passed through parliament.

Press Freedom White Paper

In 2019, the AJF worked with Gilbert + Tobin to publish our first White Paper on Press Freedom in Australia. Our paper, based on extensive research found that press freedom was far more fragile than most people appreciated.

Latest Update
In 2024, we updated our research with the help of lawyers from Thomson Geer. Our paper, published in November, found the situation has deteriorated since the original paper, confirming Australia’s slide in the World Press Freedom Index.

Journalism Australia

The AJF believes that if journalism is to be protected in law, the people who produce it also have ethical responsibilities. We believe that journalism needs an association, similar to other professions, that upholds ethics and standards, and helps the public identify work that makes those standards.

Latest Update
With help from Gilbert + Tobin and the Ethics Centre we have drafted a constitution and registered Journalism Australia We have applied for charitable status and established a steering committee.

Future Of Journalism Series

In a rapidly changing digital world, we believe the media industry should be constantly considering the way forward. To help drive those conversations, the AJF launched a podcast series interviewing leading thinkers from around the world.

Latest Update
The AJF is exploring ways of refreshing and relaunching the podcast series that we first began in 2020.

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