The campaign – which was launched on Sunday to push for reform on freedom of information laws and saw the country’s national newspapers print blanked out front pages yesterday – has named the sector as one of the reasons strict Government rules on privacy and secrecy should be loosened.
Under the Aged Care Act, information about aged care homes where assaults have taken place is kept confidential.
Nine’s political editor Chris Uhlmann said the public has a right to know whether the aged care home that they may place their parents in has a history of elder abuse.
“Those statistics are released. Over the years people have tried to break that down to get information on which particular homes have been a problem.”
“There's a Royal Commission on that at the moment. You still can’t find out where that’s a particular problem inside Australia.”
The media industry wants:
- The right to challenge a warrant to be used for a police raid against a journalist
- Exemptions for journalists from some national security laws
- Stronger protections for public sector whistleblowers
- A more open approach to Freedom of Information
- Curbs on the Government stamping papers as “secret” to prevent their release
- Defamation law reform
