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

I have already quoted Mr Rupert Murdoch pointing out the structural problem now faced by free-to-air television, but perhaps I could now quote from Chase Carey, chief operating officer of News Corp. He stated:

In broadcasting we have an ad supported business model that does not work.

So I do not know how much further we can go when experts in this sector like Mr Rupert Murdoch and his chief operating officer are saying, ‘The model is broken.’

The rebate is also in recognition of the current high level of licence fees in Australia compared to others countries, such as the US, UK, Canada and New Zealand. For example, in the UK, commercial broadcasters pay an average licence fee of 1.475 per cent; in Canada, 1.372 per cent; in New Zealand, 0.11 per cent; and in the US, 0.04 per cent. Compare that to Australia. Even after this cut we are still the most— (Time expired)