In Australia, secretive and remote institutions armed with increasingly restrictive laws are seriously eroding civic freedoms.

This ongoing trend dates back to the anti-terrorist hysteria that swept the country in the aftermath of the 11 September attacks, with some 50 pieces of anti-terror legislation rushed through Parliament with minimal public consultation.

Many of them contained measures, including control orders, supposedly aimed at combatting an extreme threat to national security. In next to no time, they were applied to new contexts at state and even federal level in ways that flagrantly breached established notions of criminal justice.

In recent years, the trend has continued unabated. Whistle-blowers have been routinely prosecuted or otherwise punished. The victims are well known.

In 2018, lawyer Bernard Collaery was charged with allegedly helping his client, an ex-spy known as Witness K, to unlawfully disclose information about an Australian secret intelligence mission. The revelation was damning.

Australia had bugged the Timor Leste government offices to gain advantage in negotiations over oil and gas reserves in the Timor Sea. The government of a wealthy country was trying to exploit its long-suffering neighbour, one of the poorest countries in the world. And here was Collaery, a man of the highest integrity, having to endure a prolonged and painful court process, and a government steadfastly refusing to acknowledge the enormity of its malpractice.

The Collaery saga is no isolated case. Former military lawyer David McBride was charged with disclosing classified materials to journalists. These materials were then used by the ABC to produce the Afghan files which brought to light credible evidence of war crimes committed by Australia’s special forces in Afghanistan. McBride was subsequently convicted and sentenced to five years and eight months in jail. Thirteen years after the events in question, only one former SAS solider, Oliver Schulz, has been charged with the war crime of murder. The trial is not set to begin until 2027.

Yet another notable case is that of Richard Boyle, the tax office whistle-blower, who brought to light the use of unethical debt recovery powers by the Australian Taxation Office. Though vindicated by several independent inquiries, Boyle was subsequently prosecuted by federal authorities. The statement issued by the Human Rights Law Centre in response to his conviction merits quoting at some length:

“. . . his case clearly demonstrates how our laws are failing to protect people who bravely speak up.

“Prosecuting whistle-blowers has a chilling effect on truth and transparency, and sends a clear message to prospective whistle-blowers that if you speak up you will face punishment.”

Whistle-blowers have not been the only target of an increasingly secretive and overbearing state. Recent years have seen peaceful protests disrupted or restricted for spurious reasons, and various forms of activism demonised and criminalised.

Justification of these unwarranted intrusions of the law and policing have gained increasing currency in government narratives. Protests against the development of new coal and gas projects at a time of mounting climate risks and marches calling for concerted action against the Israeli Government’s criminal actions in Gaza have been targeted for special attention.

Yet, in most cases, the protests in question have been called and organised with the legitimate aim of peacefully drawing attention to the serious, at times criminal, failings of governments and corporations.

Simply put, the cases alluded to above are symptomatic of a spreading virus that is infecting our political, legal and educational institutions as well as our media. As efforts to silence dissent and deny freedom of speech gather pace, the spaces for democratic engagement steadily diminish, and notions of transparency, accountability and integrity in government are reduced to empty rhetoric.

In Australia, as elsewhere, the need to speak truth to power has seldom been greater. This is precisely the gift that the ethically driven whistle-blower brings to the table. It is what gives the Julian Assange story its true significance. Here was an Australian who understood the urgent need to expose the darker side of government, the unashamed pursuit of power for its own sake and for the privileges and fortunes it dispenses to those who know how to profit from it.

It is with this backdrop in mind that Conversation at the Crossroads has invited Antoinette Lattouf to deliver the 2025 Annual Oration, which Pearls and Irritations is sponsoring.

Lattouf recently acquired celebrity status for suing the ABC for unlawfully dismissing her. She had been hired to present the morning program on ABC 702 Sydney for five days in December 2023. Contrary to the reasons given by the ABC, Lattouf was fired after the ABC came under pressure from groups and individuals who took umbrage at Lattouf’s views, in particular her emphatic opposition to Israel’s brutal military campaign in Gaza.

In what was a closely watched legal battle, the Australian Federal Court found in her favour, with presiding judge Justice Darryl Rangiah ordering the ABC to pay Lattouf $70,000 in compensation for non-economic loss arising from the termination. In a separate ruling in September, the judge ordered the ABC to pay a $150,000 penalty to Lattouf.

More significant perhaps was Justice Rangiah’s scathing assessment of the ABC’s role:

“The ABC’s conduct in surrendering to the demands of the pro-Israel lobbyists and taking Ms Lattouf off-air ignored the equally important statutory obligation of maintaining its independence and integrity.

“The ABC let down the Australian public badly when it abjectly surrendered the rights of its employee Ms Lattouf to appease a lobby group.”

This was no isolated, self-promoting gesture on Lattouf’s part, but another step in her journey as a journalist, author, lecturer and mental health advocate speaking truth to power.

The title Antoinette has chosen for her address speaks for itself, “Ink Against Empire from Courtroom to Newsroom – Why human rights can’t survive without a free press.”

Joining her on the stage will be Julian Assange’s brother Gabriel Shipton who will offer a response. Gabriel was the indefatigable advocate who, together with his father, spearheaded the national and international campaign that finally secured Julian’s freedom from the horrors of Belmarsh Prison where he was incarcerated for more than five years.

It will be an opportunity to address issues of critical significance: freedom of speech, the role of the media, human rights and solidarity with the oppressed. The vote of thanks will be delivered by Pearls and Irritations editor Catriona Jackson.

The event, which will be held on Friday 14 November, begins with the Conversation at the Crossroads AGM at 5.45 pm (AEDT), which is open to the public. Important announcements will be made regarding priorities for the coming two years. After an indulgent light supper, it will be time for the 2025 Annual Oration. Melburnians can attend in person; others can join online. Full details and registration can be accessed here.

This will be an occasion that can be rightly viewed as an appointment with the future.

The views expressed in this article may or may not reflect those of Pearls and Irritations.