Australian officials have been briefed by Britain’s Defence and Security Media Advisory (DSMA) Committee about ‘D-Notices’. These are ‘advisory orders’ to the media on what the committee considers should not be published in relation to British military and intelligence operations. 

Six months ago, Declassified Australia exclusively revealed planning for a new D-Notice system. New documents, obtained through a Freedom of Information request, reveal that in November 2022 a multitude of Australian government officials attended an online Teams briefing on the D-Notice system with Brigadier Geoffrey Dodds, the secretary of Britain’s Defence and Security Media Advisory (DSMA) Committee, Britain’s military censor. They came from seven departments and agencies: Attorney-General’s Department (AGD), Department of Home Affairs (DHA), Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT),  Defence Department, the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (CDPP), the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (PM&C).

The DSMA Committee issues DSMA-Notices, colloquially referred to as ‘D-Notices’. These are ‘advisory orders’ to the media on what the committee considers should not be published in relation to British military and intelligence operations. While theoretically voluntary, the DSMA Committee told the Australian officials at the briefing that it estimates 90 per cent of the UK’s media comply with D-Notices it issues.

The Australian government officials at the briefing took a sceptical view of the ‘voluntary’ nature of a new D-Notice system for Australia and put forward questions about the legal repercussions for journalists who don’t follow D-Notices or committee advice. The federal police were keen to know whether a journalist seeking advice from the DSMA Committee could use that fact as a defence against a prosecution under the Official Secrets Act, asking:

Is the fact that a journalist has sought advice from the DSMA, and that advice did not indicate a national security risk, a defence against the Official Secrets Act?

Is the fact that a journalist has sought advice from the DSMA, and that advice did not indicate a national security risk, a defence against the Official Secrets Act?

The DSMA Committee’s secretary told the AFP that there was “no legal basis for this”.

The AFP also wanted to know how the DSMA Committee handles UK journalists “who are clearly seeking to reduce risk of prosecution for (or even seek immunity from) publishing sensitive........

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