Image copyright SBS Image caption Earlier this year an indigenous woman was killed by police on Centralia Island
Suspended journalist Laura Pradon has been arrested and accused of “domestic violence” in a case that has triggered international condemnation.
She has been held in custody in Sydney for more than a week.
Her detention follows the arrest of indigenous journalists who worked in South Africa, South America and the Americas.
Such cases of arrests are part of a continuing effort to silence them, say some legal experts.
Ms Pradon, 43, was editor of an indigenous community newspaper and was detained on Thursday under the “Intimidation of Journalists” law, which bans journalists from reporting information in a racist or ethnically motivated manner.
She was released on bail on Sunday, pending trial on charges of breaching the law.
Ms Pradon’s lawyer, Gary Barrett, has said that while the conviction of her fellow journalist, Anthony Ndongana, on a similar charge brought by the same South African government agency did not result in a conviction, “our client’s fate is now put in the hands of the South African courts”.
His client had been in police custody, Mr Barrett said, after being falsely accused of fomenting violence at a meeting on the village of De Alegt.
Human rights lawyer Pierre de Vos says he is alarmed by the arrests.
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Officers sought to ban journalists from reporting information in a racist or ethnically motivated manner
“Laura’s detention comes against the backdrop of the global context of the arrest of certain media representatives including Martha Bordoli of La Repubblica in Italy and also Rocio Alcalá of El Pais in Spain,” Mr de Vos told the BBC.
“We are observing a constant erosion of the public’s right to access information.”
A number of media organisations, including the National Union of Journalists, the International Federation of Journalists and Amnesty International, have called for Ms Pradon’s immediate release.
“Laura Pradon’s arrest is part of a disturbing trend of state officials targeting journalists and stifling independent news coverage,” said the NUJ’s deputy general secretary, Jim Boumelha.
“We strongly condemn this action and demand her immediate release and the provision of due process.”
In the past few years Ms Pradon has written for the BBC and has travelled around the country helping communities without proper legal protection or representation.
She was working in Nicaragua recently when she was arrested by police who stormed her hotel.
She was taken to the police station and held for two days before finally being released.
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Ms Pradon spent two days in a police station before being released
In May 2016, Gauteng police said they had launched an investigation into Ms Pradon after receiving a complaint of a racist “attempted intimidation” of an indigenous community.
At the time, she said she was arrested with a colleague “because we had a newspaper in the lobby of our hotel that was an eye-opener to everyone”.
Last month Ms Pradon wrote about being questioned by police at the international tribal sovereignty conference, which took place in South Africa.
She quoted activist and journalist Mildred Setlhomane, an advocate for the South African branch of anti-apartheid activists, who said that a “growing number of white journalists and media platforms continue to be deliberately intimidated, harassed, and sometimes have their actual lives threatened or worse”.
She added: “They must be stopped before they go on a rampage and put themselves and those they are harming at risk. Only then will they stop mistreating some communities against their own people.”
Indigenous women often face a “threat of being physically attacked or killed” when they are targeted for “reporting and facilitating non-violently seeking their rights”, said Ms Setlhomane.