Australian police obtained journalist’s travel records from airline in leak inquiry

The Australian federal police obtained from Qantas Airways the personal travel records of a journalist, a revelation that alarmed the media industry on Monday after police raids on journalists last month raised questions about press freedoms in the country. A document obtained by The Sydney Morning Herald showed that the police approached the airline in March seeking travel records for a journalist who wrote a 2017 article alleging that the Australian military had committed possible war crimes against Afghan citizens. A Qantas officer then searched for details of two flights in 2016 at the request of the police, and “captured and printed” details of the trips, the paper said. The request drew sharp criticism from media groups. “The feeling is that journalism is under attack in this country,” said Paul Murphy, CE of the Australian union for journalists, the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance. “There is no regard for the important role journalists play in a functioning democracy.” The journalist whose travel records were obtained, Daniel Oakes, was part of an ABC team that published “The Afghan Files,” a 2017 article based on leaked military documents that described potential war crimes by Australian armed forces in Afghanistan.<br/>