Christian Porter says he can't guarantee he wouldn't prosecute journalists

Attorney general's admission comes as media chiefs raise increasing concerns over state of Australian press freedom

The federal attorney general, Christian Porter, maintains he would be "seriously disinclined" to sign off on the criminal prosecution of journalists for public interest journalism, but added he cannot give any guarantees.

"I can't, though, give anything more definitive than that, because my role in this process is to assess a brief that may or may not come up, and a recommendation that may or may not come up, to the commonwealth director of public prosecutions," he told the ABC.