{
  "title": "Search in Oceania",
  "canonical_url": "https://thewaronnews.com/search?continent=oceania&view=cards",
  "filters": {
    "continent": "oceania",
    "view": "cards"
  },
  "sort": "date",
  "count": 3,
  "page": 1,
  "pages": 1,
  "per_page": 50,
  "counts_caveat": "The number of entries reflects the depth of this record, not the severity of a country's conduct.",
  "facets": {
    "country": [
      {
        "value": "AU",
        "label": "Australia",
        "rsf": {
          "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
          "year": 2026,
          "rank": 33,
          "of": 180,
          "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 33rd of 180",
          "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
        }
      }
    ],
    "continent": [
      {
        "value": "oceania",
        "label": "Oceania"
      }
    ],
    "tactic": [
      {
        "value": "surveillance_and_subpoenas",
        "label": "Surveillance and subpoenas",
        "count": 2
      },
      {
        "value": "secrets_and_espionage_laws",
        "label": "Secrets and espionage laws",
        "count": 1
      },
      {
        "value": "prior_restraint",
        "label": "Prior restraint",
        "count": 1
      },
      {
        "value": "shutdowns_and_blocking",
        "label": "Shutdowns and blocking",
        "count": 1
      }
    ],
    "stage": [
      {
        "value": "punish",
        "label": "Punish",
        "count": 2
      },
      {
        "value": "silence",
        "label": "Silence",
        "count": 1
      }
    ],
    "level": [
      {
        "value": "national",
        "label": "National",
        "count": 3
      }
    ],
    "outcome": [
      {
        "value": "reversed",
        "label": "Reversed",
        "count": 3
      }
    ],
    "leader": [
      {
        "value": "john-curtin",
        "label": "John Curtin"
      },
      {
        "value": "scott-morrison",
        "label": "Scott Morrison"
      }
    ],
    "era": [
      {
        "value": "2020s",
        "label": "2020s",
        "count": 1
      },
      {
        "value": "2010s",
        "label": "2010s",
        "count": 1
      },
      {
        "value": "1940s",
        "label": "1940s",
        "count": 1
      }
    ],
    "year": [
      {
        "value": "1944",
        "label": "1944",
        "count": 1
      },
      {
        "value": "2019",
        "label": "2019",
        "count": 1
      },
      {
        "value": "2020",
        "label": "2020",
        "count": 1
      }
    ],
    "has_case": [
      {
        "value": "0",
        "label": "without a court case",
        "count": 3
      }
    ]
  },
  "results": [
    {
      "slug": "2020-australia-high-court-invalidates-smethurst-warrant",
      "title": "Australia's High Court invalidates warrant for raid on journalist Annika Smethurst",
      "occurred_on": "2020-04-15",
      "occurred_on_precision": "day",
      "country": "AU",
      "country_name": "Australia",
      "continent": "oceania",
      "jurisdiction": "AU",
      "level": "national",
      "tactic_primary": "surveillance_and_subpoenas",
      "tactics": [
        "surveillance_and_subpoenas"
      ],
      "leader_slug": "scott-morrison",
      "leader_name": "Scott Morrison",
      "issue_of_the_day": "The 2019 raid stemmed from Smethurst's reporting on leaked, classified plans to expand the Australian Signals Directorate's domestic surveillance powers, which the government treated as a national-security leak investigation.",
      "outcome": "reversed",
      "outcome_on": "2020-05-27",
      "outcome_note": "The High Court found the 2019 warrant invalid but declined to order the AFP to return or destroy the material it had seized; weeks later the AFP announced it would not charge Smethurst.",
      "stage": "punish",
      "ladder_note": null,
      "rsf": {
        "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
        "year": 2026,
        "rank": 33,
        "of": 180,
        "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 33rd of 180",
        "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
      },
      "era": "2020s",
      "granularity": "granular",
      "status": "reversed",
      "case_count": 0,
      "summary": "Australia's High Court ruled that the warrant the Australian Federal Police used to raid News Corp journalist Annika Smethurst's home over a national-security leak was invalid, and weeks later the AFP said it would not lay charges against her, citing insufficient evidence.",
      "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2020-australia-high-court-invalidates-smethurst-warrant"
    },
    {
      "slug": "2019-australia-afp-raids-abc-afghan-files",
      "title": "Australian Federal Police raid the national broadcaster over reporting on alleged war crimes in Afghanistan",
      "occurred_on": "2019-06-05",
      "occurred_on_precision": "day",
      "country": "AU",
      "country_name": "Australia",
      "continent": "oceania",
      "jurisdiction": "AU",
      "level": "national",
      "tactic_primary": "surveillance_and_subpoenas",
      "tactics": [
        "secrets_and_espionage_laws",
        "surveillance_and_subpoenas"
      ],
      "leader_slug": "scott-morrison",
      "leader_name": "Scott Morrison",
      "issue_of_the_day": "ABC's 2017 \"Afghan Files\" reporting on allegations that Australian special forces soldiers killed people in breach of the laws of armed conflict.",
      "outcome": "reversed",
      "outcome_on": "2020-10-15",
      "outcome_note": "The Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions decided in October 2020 not to charge journalist Dan Oakes over the Afghan Files reporting.",
      "stage": "punish",
      "ladder_note": null,
      "rsf": {
        "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
        "year": 2026,
        "rank": 33,
        "of": 180,
        "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 33rd of 180",
        "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
      },
      "era": "2010s",
      "granularity": "anchor",
      "status": "historical",
      "case_count": 0,
      "summary": "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 on publishing classified material.",
      "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2019-australia-afp-raids-abc-afghan-files"
    },
    {
      "slug": "1944-australia-calwell-newspaper-seizure",
      "title": "Australia's wartime government seizes a Sydney newspaper edition under press controls rules",
      "occurred_on": "1944-04-16",
      "occurred_on_precision": "day",
      "country": "AU",
      "country_name": "Australia",
      "continent": "oceania",
      "jurisdiction": "AU",
      "level": "national",
      "tactic_primary": "prior_restraint",
      "tactics": [
        "prior_restraint",
        "shutdowns_and_blocking"
      ],
      "leader_slug": "john-curtin",
      "leader_name": "John Curtin",
      "issue_of_the_day": "Australia remained at war in the Pacific in 1944, and its wartime press controls apparatus, already the subject of tension with newspaper proprietors, moved against the Sunday Telegraph for material it judged to breach the press controls rules.",
      "outcome": "reversed",
      "outcome_on": "1944-04-18",
      "outcome_note": "The High Court of Australia granted an injunction days after the seizure, blocking further suppression of the newspaper's editions.",
      "stage": "silence",
      "ladder_note": null,
      "rsf": {
        "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
        "year": 2026,
        "rank": 33,
        "of": 180,
        "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 33rd of 180",
        "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
      },
      "era": "1940s",
      "granularity": "anchor",
      "status": "historical",
      "case_count": 0,
      "summary": "Australia's wartime government, under Prime Minister John Curtin, controlled press coverage of military events through the Department of Information. In April 1944, Minister for Information Arthur Calwell ordered the seizure of copies of the Sydney Sunday Telegraph for breaching press controls rules, prompting newspapers' joint protest and a High Court injunction against the seizure.",
      "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1944-australia-calwell-newspaper-seizure"
    }
  ],
  "other_results": [],
  "downloads": {
    "csv": "https://thewaronnews.com/search?continent=oceania&view=cards&format=csv",
    "json": "https://thewaronnews.com/search.json?continent=oceania&view=cards",
    "md": "https://thewaronnews.com/search.md?continent=oceania&view=cards"
  },
  "license": {
    "name": "CC BY 4.0",
    "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
  }
}