# Ladder: secrets and espionage laws, in Oceania

Laws that make it a crime to obtain, keep or disclose information a government has classified as secret, such as the Espionage Act, a 1917 United States law against disclosing defence information, or the Official Secrets Acts of the United Kingdom. Governments use them to prosecute journalists or, more often, the officials who gave journalists information.

The number of entries reflects the depth of this record, not the severity of a country's conduct.

Narrow with ?stage= (restrict, pressure, punish, silence, eliminate), ?continent=, ?from= and ?to= (year or date).

## Punish

Legal or physical action against individual journalists or sources: subpoenas and record seizures, prosecutions, arrests, detention, expulsions, visa denials, assault where a government actor is involved.

| Date | Country | Head of government | What was done | Outcome | Sources |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 5 June 2019 | [Australia](https://thewaronnews.com/countries/au) ([RSF 2026 rank: 33rd of 180](https://rsf.org/en/index)) | [Scott Morrison](https://thewaronnews.com/leaders/scott-morrison) | Australian Federal Police spent hours searching the headquarters of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) over its 2017 "Afghan Files" reports on alleged killings by Australian special forces that breached the laws of armed conflict, seizing files under a warrant citing the Crimes Act's ban… [Full entry](https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2019-australia-afp-raids-abc-afghan-files) | Reversed (15 October 2020) | 2 |

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