Mitch Fifield (Victoria, Liberal Party, Manager of Government Business in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Brandis has sought to suspend standing orders so that he can move a motion that will provide the Senate with the opportunity to debate the Broadcasting Legislation Amendment (Broadcasting Reform) Bill 2017. It has been observed by those opposite that this bill has been around since shortly after the budget, in which we announced a comprehensive media reform package that has the support of Seven, Nine, Ten, WIN, Prime, Southern Cross Austereo, Fairfax, News Limited, Free TV, Commercial Radio Australia, Foxtel and ASTRA. It is not a common occurrence to have all of those organisations on the same page.

In observing that, can I acknowledge the leaders of Australia's media industry, who have been prepared and able to look beyond their own legitimate organisational interests to the wider interests of the Australian media industry. The interest is that they, like those of us on this side of the chamber and a number of the crossbenchers, want to see strong Australian media voices. While we don't always agree with what those in the gallery will write, broadcast, post and blog, we nevertheless do recognise that what they do is an important underpinning for our democracy.

We think this is a very significant package. It is true that it could have been dealt with many months ago if the Australian Labor Party had supported it, but the Australian Labor Party didn't because they're not particularly concerned about the jobs of those who work in Australia's media industry. Let me mention again some of the organisations: Seven, Nine, Ten, WIN, Prime, Southern Cross Austereo—