An overhaul of Australia's "world champion" secrecy laws faces an uncertain future after criticism from both the coalition and Greens.
As such, surgical amendments to federal Attorney-General Michelle Rowland's reforms will be needed if they are to pass the Senate and become law.
Australia has hundreds of secrecy provisions attached to individual laws, which aim to protect a range of information held by public institutions, from the most classified state secrets to commercially sensitive contracts or personal health details.
However, they create a fundamental tension the public's right to know and criminalising would-be whistleblowers from disclosing wrongdoing.
The Alliance for Journalists' Freedom says Australia has over-securitised its laws, creating more than 130 new security laws in the two decades after September 11, 2001, alone.
