Australia’s music stars have shown their support on the ARIA red carpet for the Your Right To Know campaign.
Among the glitz and glamour of prestigious awards night, host Guy Sebastian, recording artist DJ Havana Brown and Triple J Hottest 100 winners Ocean Alley all displayed T-shirts supporting the press freedom campaign which saw media companies across the country unite in an unprecedented action.
ARIA Awards host Guy Sebastian backs the press freedom campaign. Picture: Jonathan Ng
Award-winning singer-songwriter Katie Noonan also backed also the campaign for more personal reasons.
“My dad is a journalist so I’m all for it,” Noonan said.
Brian Noonan was a journalist and singer who met Katie Noonan’s mother, opera singer Maggie, on the set of television show.
Press freedom is an issue close to Katie Noonan’s heart. Picture: Jonathan Ng
Her brother, Tyrone, was also a journalist who worked at The Courier-Mail, published by News Corp, before concentrating on his music career with the Brisbane band George.
Tyrone and Katie were both members of George.
Australia’s Right To Know coalition of more than a dozen of the nation’s top media companies and industry organisations is campaigning for change to six critical areas of law that is allowing a veil of secrecy to being thrown over matters important to all Australians.
Ocean Alley throw their weight behind the campaign. Picture: Jonathan Ng
The campaign was launched last month in a dramatic fashion with newspapers across the county censoring their own front pages to draw attention to the lack of press freedom in Australia.
Havana Brown gives the campaign her seal of approval. Picture: Jonathan Ng
In June the Australian Federal Police conducted raids on News Corp journalist Annika Smethurst and an unrelated raid on the ABC headquarters
Since 2002, there have been 75 pieces of federal legislation intended to protect the public from national security threats but that have found new ways from stopping the public’s right to know what the Federal Government is doing.
New research reveals that 87 per cent of Australians value a free and transparent democracy where the public is kept informed, but only 37 per cent believe this is happening in Australia today.
