Some of Australia’s biggest publishers will take up arms against the Federal Government’s Data Retention Bill, and experts say their cause is just.

Head of Journalism at Curtin University - Joseph Fernandez – says that if journalists, confidential sources and whistleblowers suffer due to mandatory data retention, the public will suffer too.

“In fact, even our elected representatives will suffer because they too rely on confidentiality to carry out their work effectively,” he told The West Australian.

The Data Retention Bill is the latest of the Abbott Government’s national security laws, which seeks to force Australian telcos and ISPs to store telephone call logs, email records, and a raft of other information, for two years.

But the proposed arrangements would make it nearly impossible for journalists to protect their sources, meaning fewer important stories and whistleblowers will see the light.

A Parliamentary hearing this Friday will be swamped with representatives from major publishers and broadcasters expressing outrage at Attorney-General George Brandis’ lack of consultation over the legislation.

Dr Fernandez says it is a reaction to “a cart-before-the-horse approach to law-making”.

“If this Bill is passed without protection for journalists’ confidential sources it will pull the carpet from under the feet of the Fourth Estate and cause serious damage to government transparency and accountability,” he said.

“It will also severely undermine the very protections introduced through shield law to protect journalists and their confidential sources.”

“It remains our view that this Bill should not be passed but, if it is to be passed, it must include a media exemption,” Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance chief executive Paul Murphy told reporters.

“Politicians who have voted for these three national security laws are not champions of press freedom or freedom of expression — quite the opposite.

“They have already introduced measures that will have a chilling effect on journalism. They have muzzled an important arm of a healthy democracy. It is a shameful outcome.

“These laws are the greatest assault on press freedom in Australia in peace time.”