John Murphy (Lowe, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy Speaker, I rise again in this place to condemn the government’s Broadcasting Services Amendment (Media Ownership) Bill 2006. You would well know that I have made numerous speeches and asked very many questions of Minister Coonan and her predecessors over the years, Daryl Williams and Richard Alston. The replies that I have received to those questions have all been arrogantly dismissed.

Harry Jenkins (Scullin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Deaf ears!

John Murphy (Lowe, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, my questions have fallen on deaf ears. A typical reply to one of my questions is one I have just received from Minister Coonan. It is the height of arrogance. I asked her on 8 August: since the government announced its intention to change Australia’s cross media and foreign ownership laws, will Rupert Murdoch’s News Ltd corporation be permitted to hold all of their existing media assets and still be able to purchase an Australian free-to-air television network? If so, why? And I asked: will James Packer’s Publishing and Broadcasting Ltd media company be permitted to hold all of its existing media assets and still be able to purchase John Fairfax Holdings Ltd? If so, why? The arrogant response from the minister was to refer to an earlier question that I had asked and she had replied to, question No. 3596. The reply says:

The issues of protection of diversity and media concentration including in regional Australia are discussed in detail in the Government’s announcement “New Media Framework for Australia” of 13 July 2006.

There is not one word in any of the replies to the questions that I have asked—many questions over the years—that deal with the very serious issues that I have raised. The deceit, the complicity and the venality of all three communications ministers is before us as I speak here tonight.

The so-called four-five voice test is an absolute farce. To think that a sporting station, a music station or a radio station could provide some opposition to News Ltd or PBL is absolutely farcical. It is dishonest. The shotgun Senate inquiry that was conducted on 28 and 29 September is contemptible for the government’s disregard for the public interest and the future of our democracy. The only interest that this government holds in relation to this matter is the interest of our two largest media companies. This morning I notice that the Australian Financial Review, inter alia, reported that the Howard government has secured a historic agreement to prevent any media company owning print, radio and TV operations in the one market. That was under the headline ‘Nats cut a deal for media shake-up.’ The Nationals have been gloating about this, and somehow or other we are supposed to be happy that a big media company cannot own all print, television and radio in the one market. The headline should have read ‘Nats cut throat of our democracy.’ And how have they cut the throat of our democracy? It is thanks to John Howard’s government. This legislation, which is going to be rammed through the parliament this week, will allow News Ltd and PBL, our two biggest media companies, to own virtually all of the major newspapers and magazines; a free-to-air television network; monopoly pay television, Foxtel; and 70 per cent of the internet’s news and information sites. And no-one else is allowed to purchase a free-to-air television licence.

I say tonight: what a black day for our democracy. Where is the life raft for the public interest in relation to media ownership? Where is the salvation for our democracy? I foreshadow here tonight, on behalf of the ALP, that all the way to the next federal election I will be arguing divestiture. I will be arguing all the way that these two big media companies, on the election of a Labor government, will have to divest some of their assets. We cannot allow such massive concentration of media ownership. This is a massive threat to the public interest and the future of our democracy. It is absolutely scandalous that the Nationals and the Liberals have got together today to sign off on behalf of our two biggest media companies, have abandoned the public interest and have abandoned those of us who are very concerned about our precious democracy. The power of the media, we know, is just overwhelming. The two biggest media companies have a stranglehold on the new media— (Time expired)