Ja: Junor will take blows to protect children

"MINISTER OF Health John Junor has refused to scrap a proposal to implement penalties of up to $1 million, or 10 years imprisonment, on media houses found guilty of the 'unauthorised publication' of reports revealing sensitive information about a child.

"Instead, the Joint Select Committee examining the Child Care and Protection Act has resolved to send the recommendation to the Houses of Parliament to be examined at a higher level.
...
"The Health Minister suggested that the press seemed to think it was 'above any fine at all because any fine at all would be an infringement of press freedom'."

This is an interesting intersection of the freedom of the press and the protection of the innocents amongst us. On the one hand, children must be protected at all costs -- that, I believe, is Junor's position -- even when that protection may infringe on the constitutional protections of the media. On the other hand, the media must not be suppressed, and the imposition of high penalties may be interpreted as an attempt to muzzle the media.

There is another perspective. It is possible that Health Minister Junor is doing no more than emphasizing existing law with penalties having teeth large enough to keep the media honest and untrammelled and children protected.