The Australian Federal Police commissioner has rejected claims his officers were attempting to intimidate journalists when they carried out raids on the headquarters of the ABC and the home of a NewsCorp reporter.
Commissioner Andrew Colvin says the raids, which caused an outcry from media organisations, were not an attack on Australian press freedoms, and was comfortable with how AFP officers conducted themselves.
Despite the raids coming two years and 18 months after the relevant stories were published and two weeks after the federal election, Commissioner Colvin says the timing of the operation was irrelevant and was a resource based issue that required the right officers for the raid.