ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the various interests at stake when the governments in either the UK or Australia wish to suppress confidential information on the grounds of prejudice to national security. It focuses on the D-Notice system, where the government and the media meet to discuss whether the material in question is to be suppressed or published. The chapter shows legal alternatives to the D-Notice system. It identifies that neither the voluntary D-Notice system nor the legal alternatives give sufficient weight to the interests of the general public. The DA-Notice system currently operates in a satisfactory way in the UK for the participants, that is the government and the media, but the interests of the general public are not sufficiently represented on the Defence, Press and Broadcasting Advisory Committee. In a revitalised D-Notice system the secretary must be independent from the government and the media. The reform proposals mentioned above for the DA-Notice system in the UK.
