Australian police drop probe of reporter

SYDNEY: Australian police on Wednesday dropped the investigation of a prominent journalist and government whistleblower over leaked government secrets, ending a case which sparked wide-ranging debate over press freedom in the country.

The federal police said they would not seek any charges against Annika Smethurst, a political reporter for Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, over a 2018 article alleging the government planned to expand its powers to spy on Australian citizens.

They also dropped their investigation into the whistleblower suspected of providing Smethurst with the classified documents on which she based her report. The decision came six weeks after Australia's High Court invalidated a search warrant police used to raid Smethurst's Canberra home in June 2019 as part of a hunt for the source of the leaks.

The court ruled that the police seizure of data from Smethurst's phone and laptop was unlawful. The raid sought to identify the person who gave Smethurst "top secret" documents from the Australian Signals Directorate intelligence agency and other officials.

Ian McCartney, deputy commissioner of the Australian Federal Police, said the High Court ruling prompted a review of the Smethurst case which "determined there is insufficient evidence to progress the investigation".