Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to Senator Coonan, the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts. I refer the minister to reports today that media moguls are positioning themselves to carve up Australia’s most important media assets. Does the minister recall telling Business Sunday earlier this year that the government’s media ownership laws would not lead to a wave of takeovers? Didn’t the minister say:

... it is difficult to see that there would be a real flurry of activity ... But my view is that, probably, all the low lying fruit here has been picked.

Does the minister also recall saying on the ABC AM program on 11 October:

... the cross-media arrangements that have been agreed to have very significant safeguards.

Haven’t the media moguls already worked out that these so-called safeguards are no barrier to their ambitions? Will the minister now admit that her media laws are just a recipe for a massive concentration of media ownership?