Barnaby Joyce (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

You might know that KKR is going to break up Coles, Senator McGauran, if you had been reading the papers. We have these issues before us and this is an extremely important step. It is the emergency parachute on the current media laws. There is a big concern amongst the Australian people about what is going on with the fourth estate. To say anything else is to not be sincere and fair dinkum about exactly what is going on. The media laws have passed and we cannot, unfortunately, change that. We have a chance here, though. I see that Senator Fielding has moved an amendment very similar to my own, except he has given them only 20 days. Obviously, Senator Fielding now has a concern as well about the powers of the ACCC being circumvented. If this is truly his concern, he cannot possibly vote for not having any extension. That would not make sense. That would mean that you had two completely different positions in the chamber at the same time.

The amendment I am moving gives an extension for 80 days. I really think that is a minor ask. With all that has gone through the parliament, this is an extremely minor ask by the Australian Senate to try and give the Australian people some confidence that we are still watching and that we are very mindful of exactly what is going on in our nation. I believe sincerely that right up to the Prime Minister there are concerns about exactly how things are panning out at the moment. I do believe that. And that being the case, I believe that we have to think of what we can do to keep this on some form of leash.

A private equity firm is going to become one of the major owners of PBL. It is based overseas and you do not have a general interest in its shareholding; you have no idea who owns that. But they are commercial people; they are investing money. Of course they have an interest, and that interest allows them to try and direct activities—and at times to manipulate or cajole.

Do I think that is going to happen tomorrow? No. It is like wearing a seatbelt. Putting on a seatbelt does not mean that you are intending to have an accident. Having media control does not mean that you think that tomorrow everybody who is involved with the fourth estate becomes inherently bad. But that is not our job; our job is to protect ourselves from the contention that that might happen at some time in the future and to make sure that we have those protection mechanisms in place.

I hope that this amendment gets support. If it were to get passage, I would vote for the bill. I think that is being about as reasonable as you can possibly be. But if it does not get support, obviously I cannot vote for the bill. I move:

At the end of the motion, add “and agrees to the following further amendments to the bill:”

(1)    Schedule 1, page 4 (after line 2), after item 6, insert:

6A  After subsection 30(2)

Insert:

     (2A)    Where the Tribunal is exercising its powers to consider merger clearances and authorisations in accordance with Division 3 of Part VII, the Tribunal shall include such other members as are appointed in accordance with this section as follows:

             (a)    one member with sufficient experience and expertise to represent small business interests; and

             (b)    one member with sufficient experience and expertise to represent consumers and consumer protection interests.

(2)    Schedule 1, item 27, page 10 (line 23), after “agrees”, insert “or the ACCC so requests”.

(3)    Schedule 1, item 27, page 16 (line 22), after “is”, insert “subject to subsection (3),”.

(4)    Schedule 1, item 27, page 16 (after line 30), at the end of section 95AO, add:

        (3)    The ACCC may seek an extension of time of 80 business days to consider the application before the Commission makes a determination. If the ACCC does, the time of 120 business days is taken to be substituted for the period of time referred to in subsection (1).

(5)    Schedule 1, item 27, page 19 (line 14), after “is”, insert “subject to subsection (8A),”.

(6)    Schedule 1, item 27, page 19 (after line 21), after subsection 95AR(8), insert:

     (8A)    The ACCC may seek an extension of time of 80 business days to consider the application before the Commission makes a determination. If the ACCC does, the time of 120 business days is taken to be substituted for the period of time referred to in subsection (7).

(7)    Schedule 1, item 27, page 22 (line 14), after “is”, insert “subject to subsection (11A),”.

(8)    Schedule 1, item 27, page 22 (after line 22), after subsection 95AS(11), insert:

   (11A)    The ACCC may seek an extension of time of 80 days to consider the application before the Commission makes a determination. If the ACCC does, the time of 120 days is taken to be substituted for the period of time referred to in subsection (10).”.