Deborah O'Neill (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I thank you, Senator Roberts, for your courtesy in allowing us to alter the order here this evening. Thank you for the opportunity to speak on this very important bill today. I've received much correspondence on it, and it's one that is going to have dramatic implications if it is passed. I speak, of course, of the Treasury Laws Amendment (News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code) Bill 2021.

I want to say at the outset that I support adequate regulation of big tech platforms. That's needed for accurate information to flow through our democracy. The swift rise to global dominance of the internet and social media industry now can be compared to the introduction of the printing press in the 15th century. Australians growing up today have never had so much information at their fingertips but with less confidence about where it comes from. As traditional news has withered, particularly local and regional news, fake news and click bait has metastasised with, often, terrible consequences. We saw the horrifying effects of Trump's big lie about the 2020 election, with the Capitol riot, the domestic terrorism sponsored by the proliferation of the deranged QAnon theory and online message boards, and the incitement of religious and ethnic violence in Myanmar and Sri Lanka prompted by incendiary and false social media posts. As we saw in the course of the pandemic, even basic facts about the virus and simple measures such as wearing masks became political and debated facts. Debunked cures such as hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin were promoted in the face of scientific evidence, and the wearing of simple cloth masks was called 'child abuse'. Almost all my colleagues in this place would recognise this as an untenable situation. We cannot continue to let lies spread across the search and social media platforms. We cannot continue to watch public interest, local and regional journalism decline. Yet this bill is so threatening to Facebook that Facebook has threatened to take its toys and go home at the slightest threat of regulation.

Although the Liberal government have completely botched their consultation process for this bill, I'm deeply troubled by the sight of a tech giant actively censoring its platform in a display of raw power. If the government were to fold on this bill, it would be a signal to other digital platforms that they can run roughshod over the Australian people with impunity and that they're above government regulation. I urge the government to fix this matter as a matter of urgency, which brings us to the bill that the chamber has before it today. This particular bill aims to introduce a mandatory code that would provide a framework and penalty system to address the bargaining imbalances between digital platforms and Australian news media. While this bill actively encourages agreements to be made outside of the code, it does establish minimum standard obligations for all businesses registered under the code, requirements for good faith bargaining and the application of final offer arbitration when initial bargaining between the parties doesn't succeed.

I note that Seven West Media has now signed a deal with Google worth more than $30 million a year, and that is even before the bill has passed. I do welcome this announcement and I hope that Google and Facebook accept regulation and their obligations to host countries to negotiate in good faith. This structure has proved successful for the dairy code and it should, indeed, be implemented across other sectors, particularly the car dealer industry and the franchising sector. We need to ensure that all Australian businesses and business owners have the opportunity to negotiate on a level playing field with vast multinational corporations.

This bill has been three years in the making, and I thank all the hardworking staff at the ACCC for their exhaustive work in drafting the code. I also support the planned review after a year. A piece of legislation this major, and one of the first in its field internationally, needs to be reviewed constantly to ensure that the intended purpose is being achieved and that unintended consequences can be dealt with swiftly. This code is not the final answer for, and nor is it the final saviour of, public interest journalism.

This government has overseen the rapid consolidation of most journalism in this country into the hands of two men, Rupert Murdoch and Kerry Stokes. The government did that by the abolition of the longstanding protection of public interest journalism that was embedded in the two-thirds rule and the reach rule. Australia has now, as a consequence of this government's action, one of the most concentrated media markets in the entire world, and that this already restricts choice for Australian consumers is simply a fact.

Regional news media continues to decline and was almost wiped out by the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic downturn that has ensued. Historic papers, such as the Barrier Daily Truth out at Broken Hill, were brought to the brink, and over a hundred print newspapers actually closed their doors in 2020. The Australian Communications and Media Authority, ACMA, has confirmed that media diversity in regional and remote areas is already at or below the minimum number of voices in 68 per cent of licence areas. The ACCC also noted that, between 2008 and 2018, 106 local and regional newspaper titles closed, a 15 per cent decrease across all areas. That was even before COVID hit. This leaves 21 local government areas—broad communities across this country—without any kind of local newspaper. This regional media decline has serious implications for democracy at a local level. It erodes the accountability of regional councillors to their electors, it erases the proud identities of many local towns and regions and it further cuts off many First Nations communities from local voices.

The bill will ensure that media organisations have more money and more revenue from ad services, but it does not guarantee that that money will be spent on public interest journalism and on regional newspapers. I note that in 2017 the Nick Xenophon Team negotiated a $60.4 million package for regional media in this place. They did that in a deal for their support in watering down our media laws. As a consequence of that deal by Nick Xenophon, over 200 regional newspapers have gone under. I can remember being in this very place that night and predicting exactly that outcome, which was pooh-poohed by the government. Senator Xenophon, as I recall, had to explain the deal that he'd done because the government had done it so swiftly they didn't even know what they'd agreed to. But the consequences are real. I shudder to think what the media landscape will look like when Scott Morrison pulls JobKeeper on 31 March.

This bill is but one of a suite of measures that the ACCC recommended in its August 2019 report entitled Digital Platforms Inquiry: final report to ensure the sustainability and future of public interest journalism. It recommended media reforms, stable funding for broadcasters, tax incentives and philanthropy measures, among other important initiatives that could help to stop our haemorrhaging media landscape. This bill sets out six main elements to establish a mandatory code of conduct. Firstly, bargaining: this requires the responsible digital platform corporations and registered news business corporations that have indicated an intention to bargain to do so in good faith. Secondly, compulsory arbitration: where parties cannot come to a negotiated agreement about remuneration relating to making available covered news content on designated digital platform services, an arbitral panel will select between two final offers made by the bargaining parties. That is an important way to resolve power differentials in the community interest. Thirdly, general requirements: among other things, this requires responsible digital platform corporations to provide registered news business corporations with advanced notification of planned changes to an algorithm or internal practice that will have a significant effect on covered news content. Fourthly, non-differentiation requirements: responsible digital platform corporations must not differentiate between the news businesses participating in the code or between participants and nonparticipants because of matters that arise in relation to their participation or their nonparticipation in the code. Fifthly, contracting out: the bill recognises that a digital platform corporation may reach a commercial bargain with a news business outside the code about remuneration or other matters. It provides that the parties who notify the ACCC of such agreements would not need to comply with the general requirements, bargaining and compulsory arbitration rules, as set out in the agreement. Lastly, standard offers: digital platform corporations may make standard offers to news businesses which are intended to reduce the time and cost associated with negotiations, particularly for smaller news businesses. If the parties notify the ACCC of an agreed standard offer, those parties do not need to comply.

However, despite all that, I am very troubled by certain aspects of this bill. I'm concerned that, during the Senate Economics Legislation Committee inquiry into this bill, concerns were raised about the use of delegated legislation to confer upon the Treasurer a range of powers, including the right to determine a 'designated digital platform service' and a 'designated digital platform corporation' without relevant parliamentary scrutiny. And this move for delegated legislation, giving all the power to one person—in this case, the Treasurer—and taking away the scrutiny of this place, the Australian people's place, where they send us to stand up for them, is just a signature move by this government; it's a concentration of power. I know that within the ranks of my great party, the Labor Party, and also the Liberal and National parties there are great concerns about the erosion of the democratic traditions that underpin good governance in this country. The Prime Minister doesn't seem worried about it, and it seems the Treasurer loves getting his delegated legislation, so maybe they are the two culprits who need to be accountable.

The Senate Standing Committee for the Scrutiny of Bills labelled the clauses I'm talking about akin to Henry VIII clauses, which authorise delegated legislation to make substantive amendments to primary legislation. Despite writing to the Treasurer with these concerns, they were ignored by Treasurer Frydenberg. Labor supports the bill, because it attempts to arrest the freefall that public interest journalism has found itself in since the rapid expansion of the internet; however, I note the appalling rollout of the legislation, which resulted in Facebook erasing news media from its platform in a stunning slap in the face to the Australian people. For this reason, Labor recommends that the government use precise language in public statements regarding what designations it intends to make under the code. This is in order to save any misunderstanding or unnecessary uncertainty for the media, digital platforms, small businesses, and citizens and consumers who may be impacted.

You don't have to look too far back in this place—what happened when Senator Xenophon did a deal behind closed doors without adequate scrutiny—to see this government setting in train the demise of regional newspapers, the loss of the capacity to tell the stories of local communities, the terrible impact of the loss of jobs in those communities and the dislocation of families. Maybe mum was working on the local newspaper, and dad might have been the local doctor. All of that was eroded by a government that doesn't like the clear light of day. It wants to do deals in the dark, wants to do it behind closed doors and wants to get legislation through here but give itself power to just pull a little bit out and do a deal on the side. That's not good government, and the cost to Australia in the media sector has been the loss of a voice in local communities. And once these things go, you can't get them back. It's hard to build something, but this government is really, really good at breaking things. We are seeing the consequences of that in regional communities right across this country.

Labor supports the bill, because it does give local media organisations the appropriate carrots and sticks to do some bargaining with these large digital platforms. The legislation is a world first, and I hope it provides momentum to other movers to effectively regulate tech giants. We must ride over the waves of their petulance and pass legislation that's in the public interest, and I urge all members to support this bill.