Proposed laws cracking down on foreign interference and espionage could "criminalise" journalism and whistleblowing with penalties of up to 20 years' jail, a parliamentary inquiry has heard.
The Turnbull government last year announced legislation tackling what it said was a growing threat of foreign states trying to influence Australia's political landscape, which included beefing up secrecy laws.
Appearing at a parliamentary committee, Paul Murphy, chief of journalists' union Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance, said proposed changes to secrecy laws could have a "chilling effect" on stories which rely on leaked documents.
He said more than a dozen outlets which co-authored a submission including Fairfax Media, News Corp Australia and AAP strongly opposed the "extraordinarily heavy" penalties.
"It criminalises journalism. The bill increasingly criminalises the brave people who come forward as whistleblowers who bring material to journalists for public interest reports," Mr Murphy said.
Universities are also railing against the draft laws, arguing important research could be stymied.
Universities Australia acting chief executive Catriona Jackson said collaborations with international academics and funding sources would be under threat if the draft legislation passed.
Australian research with foreign involvement which led to legislative and regulatory changes could be deemed to have broken the proposed laws, she said.
Catholic Bishop Robert McGuckin warned the broad bill would hinder their advocacy - and that of other charities - and create additional, unnecessary red tape.
"Catholics are followers of Jesus Christ - we are not agents of a foreign government," he told the hearing in Canberra on Tuesday.
The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference fears if left as is, the bill could potentially require every bishop, priest or lay person to register and report their activities, noting there were more than 5.2 million people identifying as Catholic in the 2016 census.
The conference also used the example of the annual CEO Sleepout run by St Vincent de Paul.
"It's one of those events I will be talking to people such as yourselves about," the conference's Suzanne Greenwood told MPs.
"Now is that an advocacy communication activity to members of parliament? Is that on behalf of the church?"
The group suggested an amendment to exempt charitable, religious or other organisations that are registered with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission, while universities want consultation with the government.
Australian Strategic Policy Institute executive director Peter Jennings doesn't believe the bishops' concerns will be an unintended consequence of the legislation.
"We're an open liberal democracy which is not really intent on wanting to stopping bishops from advocating for their faith," he told the hearing.
He lauded the legislation as "timely and necessary", but said the government needed to encourage the intelligence community to make more information public about the threats from foreign powers faced by Australia.
