‘Whistleblowers shouldn’t face prison for doing the right thing’ By Natasha Taylor|23 May 2021 The Human Rights Law Centre has welcomed the findings of a Senate inquiry into press freedom to better protect whistleblowers and public interest journalism in Australia. The Senate inquiry investigated the impact of national security and surveillance laws on press freedom and whistleblowing and was initiated following the 2019 raids on ABC’s Sydney headquarters and the home of journalist Annika Smethurst. Earlier this week, the final report was published and made 17 recommendations. These included proposed reforms to secrecy and espionage laws that potentially criminalise public interest journalism and a call for long-awaited improvements to federal whistleblower protections.