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New Delhi: The front page of every newspaper in Australia was blacked out on Monday as part of a campaign against moves by successive federal governments to penalise whistleblowing and, in some cases, criminalise journalism. National and regional mastheads including The Australian, The Sydney Morning Herald and the Australian Financial Review hit newsstands on Monday with most of their front-page stories blacked out to give the impression it had been censored similar to how classified government documents are.

Advertisements have also been rolled out across the country's television networks, asking viewers: "When the government hides the truth from you, what are they covering up?"
The protest is designed to put public pressure on the government to exempt journalists from laws restricting access to sensitive information, enact a properly functioning freedom of information system, and raise the benchmark for defamation lawsuits.
While the government withholds information relating to aged care abuse, proposed new powers to spy on ordinary citizens, and the terms of land sales to foreign companies, Australians believe these are matters they absolutely have a right to know about.
australia has no constitutional protection for free speech. The government added a provision to protect whistleblowers when it strengthened counter-espionage laws in 2018, although media organisations say press freedoms remain restricted.
Global attention turned to media freedoms in Australia this year when a court order prevented media from reporting that the former Vatican treasurer, Cardinal George Pell, had been found guilty on child sex abuse charges.
Some Australian outlets reported that an unidentified person had been convicted but some foreign media companies identified Pell because they were outside Australia's jurisdiction.
Prosecutors are now seeking fines and jail sentences for three dozen Australian journalists and publishers for their coverage of the trial. Pell is appealing against his convictions.
The subject came to a boil again in June when police raided the head office of the ABC in Sydney and the home of a News Corp editor on suspicion of receiving national secrets.
The raids, which involved police examination of about 9,000 computer files at the ABC and sifting through the female News Corp editor's underwear drawer, drew international condemnation.

New Delhi: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh today received the first of the 36 long-awaited Rafale fighter jets on behalf of the Indian Air Force (IAF). Speaking at the event, Defence Minister termed the developments as "historic" and said that it will go a long way in strengthening strategic-ties between India and France. This is a new milestone in bilateral ties, said Rajnath Singh.

India had signed an agreement with France for the procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets at a cost of Rs. 59,000 crore in SEptember 2016. 

The fighters — to be armed with the SCALP ground attack missiles that have a range well over 300 km — will be flown by IAF pilots in France for at least 1,500 hours as part of the testing and acceptance process before they come to their home base in Ambala. The first batch of four combat jets is expected to be ferried to India by May.

The Rafale jets intended for India are expected to come with certain bespoke modifications for the IAF and have been awaited as a crucial enhancement to India's Medium Multi-role Combat Aircraft fleet.

The first Rafale jet will come with tail number RB 001, with RB denoting the initials of Air Chief Marshal Rakesh Bhadauria who played a key role in striking the deal for the jets in his previous role as IAF deputy chief.

Commenting on the positives of this- receiving Rafale from France, Singh said it will enhance the capabilities of the Indian Air Force and lay a global blueprint for successful defence cooperation between two responsible states. He also thanked the French state for providing support and training to Indian Air force pilots.

Had an excellent meeting with the President of France Mr. @EmmanuelMacron at Elysee Palace in Paris today.

We had a comprehensive discussion covering a wide range of issues. pic.twitter.com/WFInexU8sm

— Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) 8 अक्तूबर 2019