Documents obtained by Declassified Australia show that following the June 2019 Federal Police raids on the ABC and News Corp, the Department of Home Affairs began secret efforts to revive a four-decade dead system to censor the Australian media.

The Australian Federal Police had raided the offices of the ABC and News Corp journalist Annika Smethurst on 4 and 5 June 2019, in response to their reporting on alleged war crimes and a proposed domestic spying plan. Following the raids, Mike Pezzullo, then secretary of the Department of Home Affairs — a portfolio that included ASIO and the AFP — texted a close adviser to then Liberal prime minister Scott Morrison, Scott Briggs, with plans to censor the media. These texts had been brought to light in a 2023 report in The Age.

The documents show that, following Pezzullo’s proposal, Home Affairs officials looked to Britain’s Defence and Security Media Advisory Committee for assistance in reinstating D-Notices in Australia.

British D-Notices often seek to censor reporting on UK state crimes and other malfeasance.

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