Access denied: Journalists lodge complaint about threats to freedom of the press amid Parliament security crackdown

The committee representing the media working in Parliament House has lodged a formal complaint about the increasing use of bollards, saying they threaten freedom of the press and pose safety issues.

Over the past year bollards have been erected inside and outside the building in what photographers and camera crews in particular see as an attempt to restrict their access to politicians.

For the first time holding pens have been created outside the entrances to Parliament House, which limits the media's ability to document the arrival of politicians on sitting days.

Bollards have also been used inside the building to restrict the media's movements.

Photographers and camera crews have found themselves directed to cordoned off areas during committee hearings while reporters have been directed to stand in roped off zones during events to which they would once have had unrestricted access.

This follows a ban on media in the ministerial wing without an appointment, which was introduced as part of a security crackdown at Parliament House last year.
 
"The media has worked in this building since it opened without the need for all these bollards," press gallery committee president and Sky News political editor, David Speers, said.

"The presence of media may not always be welcomed by politicians, but we don't believe journalists pose any sort of security threat."

In one incident in March a series of bollards was quickly erected by a security guard as a quickly moving press pack walked backwards while trying to interview Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

The overzealous guard's actions nearly caused an accident and prompted the press gallery committee to make a complaint to the presiding officers, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Bronwyn Bishop, and the President of the Senate, Stephen Parry.

Mr Speers said after receiving several complaints from the media organisations working inside the building the committee had raised the issue with the presiding officers "about the increasing use of bollards".

An investigation into the March incident is being conducted.

A spokesman for the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Bronwyn Bishop, did not respond to Fairfax Media's request for comment.
 

 

Source: http://www.theage.com.au