If it is not then governments, and government agencies, will have a free hand to intimidate journalists and whistleblowers for the foreseeable future.

That is what last year's raids were all about. The intent was to make it clear anybody who dares to disseminate embarrassing information about the misdeeds of government cabals runs the risk of being tracked down and punished for their pains.

Journalists have been sent an unsubtle message that if they try to investigate issues of vital public interest, including the possible commission of war crimes and proposals by government agencies to spy on their own citizens, they do so at great peril to themselves and their sources.

This is nothing less than a concerted attempt by forces within government to exert much greater control over what makes it into the mainstream media than previously.

The ABC raid was just one episode in what appeared to be a well-orchestrated crescendo of anti-libertarian overreach.

It came just 24 hours after the AFP raided the Canberra home of News Corp's Annika Smethurst.

A third AFP raid, to have been staged on News Corp's Surry Hills headquarters in Sydney the day after the ABC incursion, was abruptly cancelled in the wake of an almost immediate media and public backlash about the previous incidents.

It is ironic that in the lead up to the Ultimo search the lead AFP officer reportedly told the ABC's solicitor, Michael Rippon, words to the effect "we don't want any sensationalist headlines like AFP raids the ABC".

Two ABC staff, Dan Oakes and Sam Clark, were being investigated over "the Afghan files", a series of hard hitting reports on special forces operations in Afghanistan. They included allegations of unlawful killings and the mutilation of a corpse.

Nobody has claimed the reports posed a threat to the safety of current or former ADF members and, according to the ABC, the accuracy of the reports which relied on information from a whistleblower who is also being prosecuted has never been challenged.

Smethurst was in the cross-hairs because she had written about proposals by senior officials for the Australian Signals Directorate to covertly monitor citizens within Australia.

At about the same time 2GB's Ben Fordham was told by the Department of Home Affairs he was being investigated over reports on intercepted boat arrivals.

Once again, there was no threat to the safety of ADF or security personnel or the nation.

The stories were about "officials' secrets", not bona fide official secrets.

When you consider that while all this was going Qantas had been asked for, and reportedly handed over, Dan Oakes's travel details, and that the AFP had accessed the metadata of journalists nearly 60 times in one year, it's hard to avoid the conclusion we are drifting towards a secret state.

Public interest journalism is not a crime.

Official malfeasance and ineptitude are as old as government itself .

The art of the cover up has been around just as long.

Given it is now obvious existing legislation does not protect whistleblowers and investigative journalists urgent action is needed.

As a result of Monday's decision Clark and Oakes face prosecution for just doing their jobs.

If our Parliamentarians won't defend the media's right to scrutinise government in ways that are taken for granted in countries such as the US and the UK then the obvious question is "what do they have to hide?"