A Start in Sydney
The attack by the New South Wales Cabinet on the.freedom of the Press, to which attention was drawn in these columns last week, has received its first check. Mr. Justice Owen, in the NSW Supreme Court, has refused the police application for an order requiring the Sydney Morning Herald to disclose the sources of information on which it based allegations of corruption in the Sydney City Council. Thus the right of newspapers to expose scandals without betraying the confidence of their informants has been vindicated—but only temporarily and partially. The disgraceful City of Sydney (Disclosure of Allegations) Act still stands. It was passed for the express purpose of preventing such acts of courage as that of the owners and editor of the Sydney Morning Herald in attacking a grave political abuse. The judge was only able to frustrate one particular, and hasty, attempt to apply this Act, on the ground that the police had followed a wrong procedure. The courts cannot prevent the New South Wales Government from further displays of zeal to gag the Press. The Sydney Morning Herald, still sticking to its guns, has rightly pointed out that the main threat still remains. The Act is still there. The State Govern- ment can repeal it voluntarily. Failing that it can be forced by populaP opinion in Australia to repeal it. But so long as the Act remains it is. an affront to freedom and decency.
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