Read text of Professor Weisbrot's address Since taking over as chair of the Australian Press Council in March, Professor David Weisbrot has proved an?energetic and outspoken supporter of journalism at a time of great challenges to the industry.

He has branded new data retention laws as “far too intrusive”, called for an overhaul of defamation laws in the ?wake of the Joe Hockey-Fairfax case and urged a more collegial relationship between the Press Council and the? media.

He has also indicated that he wants to teach the old watchdog new tricks in education and advocacy. Professor Weisbrot spoke over lunch about his “Adventures in Media Counter-errorism - the? challenges of heading the Press Council in an era of technological convergence, social change and stifling ?surveillance” and took questions from the audience.

A former Dean of Law at the universities of Sydney and Papua New Guinea, Professor Weisbeot was also the? longest-serving President of the Australian Law Reform Commission (1999-2009).