ABC staff have been ordered not to delete emails, photographs and documents relating to antisemitism, social cohesion and the Bondi terrorist attack ahead of an upcoming royal commission into last December’s massacre.
In a message to staff seen by this masthead, the ABC’s director of news Justin Stevens said that the National Archives of Australia had issued “disposal freeze notices” to institutions including the ABC and SBS.
The orders inform staff that the public broadcaster is required to keep any documents or records which could be relevant to the commission, including on social cohesion, Antisemitism, religiously motivated extremism, radicalisation, law enforcement, border control, and the circumstances surrounding the Bondi attack on December 14 last year.
Last month, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced a Royal Commission into the devastating Bondi attack of December 14, which left 15 people dead.
Albanese initially opposed a federal inquiry, arguing that a NSW-based inquiry would be sufficient, but backtracked after criticism from across the political spectrum. Former High Court judge Virginia Bell was hand-picked to be commissioner, with the probe set to conclude before December 14, 2026.
The commission will investigate “the nature and prevalence of antisemitism in institutions and society… in Australia.”
Stevens told ABC employees that the message about keeping records was being sent “to all news staff to ensure we don’t inadvertently miss anyone, however, only some of you will have materials that are relevant.”
Stevens said that ABC staff were obliged to protect a range of material, including, documents, emails, text messages, social media posts, audio records, and datasets. He also warned staff about the use of self-deleting messages on encrypted apps like Signal, which are frequently used by journalists to discuss sensitive material with sources.
“Going forward, if you receive or send messages on Signal or any similar apps on these topics, continuing to use a disappearing messages setting would be a breach of the notice,” Stevens said.
“If you regularly delete emails for storage and security reasons we have to exclude emails on these topics from deletion until further notice,” he told staff.
The ABC, along with other government agencies, were issued with a similar notice by the National Archives in 2020, relating to a federal inquiry into potential breaches of the law of war by Australian forces in Afghanistan. That notice remains in place.
The ABC declined to comment. The National Archives, and SBS were contacted for comment.
The current notice was issued by the National Archives’ Director-General Simon Froude this week, and applies to over 30 government agencies, including the ABC, SBS, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the eSafety Commissioner and the Attorney-General’s Department.
“A disposal freeze is necessary to ensure that these records are protected and available when required,” Froude said in a statement on the archives’ website.
Technically, the notice suspends the National Archives’ permission to destroy government records related to antisemitism and social cohesion. A failure to comply with the notice can incur penalties of up to $6600.
Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter.
Kishor Napier-Raman is a senior business writer for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. Previously he worked as a CBD columnist and reporter in the federal parliamentary press gallery.Connect via X or email.From our partners
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: www.smh.com.au
