Journalists at foreign-owned outlets in Australia could face jail for exposing ADF war crimes, paper suggests

Recklessly doing so can attract a jail term of up to 15 years, while intentionally doing so carries a maximum sentence of 20 years.

The author of the policy paper, Sarah Kendall, said state-linked outlets that could meet the definition of a foreign principal include Al Jazeera (Qatar), RNZ (New Zealand) and Voice of America (US), France 24, and Chinese and Russian state-owned media.

The paper said national security has been defined broadly in the criminal code.

The policy paper called for the foreign interference offences to be narrowed in scope and for a change in the coverage of preparatory offences.

It recommended the creation of a journalism-based exemption to protect legitimate, good faith journalism, while ensuring genuine acts of foreign interference are criminalised.

The paper suggested an exemption could be modelled on a defence to the general secrecy offence, protecting professional and nonprofessional journalists reporting on matters of public interest.

This proposed defence would not apply when activities are done to assist foreign intelligence agencies or military organisations.