Bob Katter (Kennedy, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

We were told this when the parliament deregulated the milk industry—that there are protections and there is the ACCC. The milk price to farmers was slashed from 60c to 40c because there was a monopoly. We were told this in the sugar industry, where the price that we get for by-products has been reduced to nothing and we cannot live with the price we are getting. We were told this in the tobacco industry, where you had two or three players. We have no tobacco industry in Australia now. We were given assurances that the ACCC would protect us all. I am very familiar with Mr Sims at the ACCC. They have very limited resources, and I do not think that they could take on the might of Rupert Murdoch, nor do I think they could take on the might of a Gina Rinehart.

We live in a country now where it is available to the rich and powerful to take over all the media outlets in this country. When I was young, that was one of the hallmarks of a communist regime—all the media outlets were owned by a single entity. In that case, it was the government. We could say, 'Well, it wasn't a very democratic government.' Well, there is going to be no democracy here at all. It will be 'He who has got the biggest chequebook can decide what you think in this country.' Obviously, the minister missed out a bit on his education because, if he had read Nineteen Eighty-Four or Brave New World, he would be looking into the gun barrel of the sort of society which he is creating.

When this was proposed, it was when I first came into this place, there were six members of parliament that were going to cross the floor on it. One of them was Joe Hockey and one of them was Christopher Pyne. That was in the media. These men had principle and they were not prepared to allow a monopoly in the media in Australia. Obviously, they have modified their opinions in the years since. Whether or not there is a corrupting influence in this place, I do not know. All I know is that they have changed their positions. It was said that three National Party members would have crossed the floor. I do not know if that was ever the case, but, most certainly, I would have crossed the floor on it.

This is a historic moment because control of the media—control of what people think in this country—can now reside in the hands of one person. The Liberals think they are very clever because the two contenders are very positive towards the Liberal Party. But my experience is that it has a funny way of turning around and biting you when you think you are going to do something for your own benefit. I profoundly believe that it is for your benefit. Is it for the benefit of the country that every media outlet in this country is owned by a single entity? I hate to say this, but the minister's name will go down in infamy in the history of this country. Billy Hughes decided that we would have conscription, and an extra 100,000 Australians died. In this case, the minister is putting the muzzle on free speech in this country because there is no way that you can get a licence to operate a television venue in Australia. That is not the real world. The ACCC will not give me a television licence; they are not authorised to. Are we going to open up a newspaper and compete against Rupert Murdoch? Is that what the minister is saying? I wish him well if he opens up the Betoota Advocate on the outskirts of Sydney, because that might be our best hope. I am going to go and talk to my mates there. It might be the best hope that we have of getting our point of view across.

These people think they are very clever with their industrial legislation. They took to the Australian people the proposition that we abolish the Arbitration Commission. Even though the newspapers and the media in Australia were almost unanimous in support of this proposition, they got annihilated. They have never said, 'We want to sell the assets.' It was only the LNP that was stupid enough to say that and get themselves annihilated, but the other mob over here— (Time expired)

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