Australia's domestic spy agency has ruled out screening journalists in order to apply a public interest exemption from national security laws, saying it would be too hard to weed out foreign agents posing as reporters.
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The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation told the press freedom inquiry earlier this month journalists should not be given a blanket exemptions from national security laws, because it would make them recruitment targets for foreign spies.
It also said journalism was being used as a cover by "hostile intelligence actors", as both professions required access to people, places and sensitive information.
However Shadow Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus suggested a screening process for exemptions, to ensure foreign agents posing as journalists didn't get a free pass.
"Director-General Duncan Lewis has referred publicly more than once to the problem of spies or foreign agents masquerading as journalists or using journalistic cover. What is your view on the suggestion that, if that were the case, the exemption would not apply to them?" Mr Dreyfus said during the hearings.
"That is, the exemption would cover legitimate journalism; it would cover public interest journalism, conducted by legitimate news organisations and legitimate journalists. In those circumstances, if there were an exemption, it would not apply to the foreign agent."
But the agency said this week that would be difficult to distinguish between hostile foreign actors pretending to be journalists, or real journalists who were working for a foreign government.
"ASIO can foresee a circumstance in which making a distinction in the application of exemptions between 'legitimate' journalism that is conducted in the public interest, and conduct by hostile actors under the guise of journalistic cover could endanger sensitive sources, methods and intelligence-sharing relationships," it said in response to a question taken on notice.
The agency also doubled down on its claim such an exemption would increase the intelligence threat to journalists.
"ASIO does not support broad exemptions for particular classes of people, industries or professions," it said.
"ASIO considers exemptions applied in this way could undermine the effectiveness of Australian laws by encouraging hostile actors to structure their activities to exploit any potential vulnerabilities in Australia's legislation.
"If an exemption were to be introduced, the prevalence of journalistic cover being used to mask activities harmful to Australia's interests by hostile actors may well increase."
The Australian Financial Review's Angus Griggs revealed in 2017 a Chinese agent tried to recruit him to pass on information for money.
The New York Times also reported on Tuesday Chinese spies had targeted a senior Obama White House official on LinkedIn, offering to fly him to China for "well paid" opportunities.
