Helen Coonan (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you to Senator Conroy for the question. What appears to have escaped Senator Conroy and a lot of commentators is that the current media laws have not even been proclaimed yet. The government has not even set a date for the proclamation of the media laws. Any current activity would need to have regard to the existing old Keating laws passed under the Hawke government back in the 1980s.

The important thing when looking at media is that there will be some movement, but it will be subject to very stringent safeguards that affect not only the type of mergers but also the number of possible mergers. You only have to listen, for instance, to the comments of Mr Samuel, the Chairman of the ACCC, this morning to appreciate that he has said not only that is he keeping a very close eye on it but that the speculation should give rise to people having a cold shower. I would suggest that Senator Conroy, if modesty permits, also take a cold shower together with all of those currently hyperventilating over what might happen if these transactions proceed when the media laws are actually proclaimed. They have not yet been proclaimed.

I think people are getting ahead of themselves. I note that most of what is being reported, particularly about PBL, at least up until the time question time started, has certainly not been clarified and you could fairly say it is speculative. The media ownership changes will not take effect until a date to be proclaimed sometime next year, so the changes being effected must have regard to existing laws or else those companies run the risk of having breached current laws. It is certainly the case that players may be trying to position themselves in certain ways prior to the laws coming into effect. But what their future intentions are is a question of course that has not been revealed. It is perfectly clear that the changes to the media ownership rules will allow for some movement, subject to the safeguards.

Senator Conroy obviously does not want to admit that the media laws have not even passed yet. If you look at what the speculation is about PBL, it appears to be more about financials and securing the position of PBL rather than any merger activity. Of course, the most revealing thing over the last few days is how the Labor Party still does not have a position on media policy that is not dictated by Mr Keating. We had Mr Beazley a couple of days ago saying that he had no idea what Labor’s position would be—that they would think about it. Senator Conroy just adopts a position of opposition for opposition’s sake. What the people of Australia might expect from Labor is that we will take a visionary leap backwards to the 1980s in accordance with Mr Keating pulling the strings of those who do not have the mettle to have a policy of their own, have no idea where they are going and are perpetually lost.