Larissa Waters (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Treasury Laws Amendment (News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code) Bill 2021. The purpose of the news media bargaining code is to level the playing field between news media companies and big technology—Google and Facebook in particular—when negotiating commercial agreements. The code was recommended by the consumer watchdog, the ACCC, after its inquiry into digital platforms in Australia.

I'm sure all Australians realise that Google and Facebook are the gatekeepers of the internet and that these tech giants profit off the advertising revenue that's used to support independent media. Often when you click a link in an article that you found on Google or Facebook, the money from those ads goes to the tech giant; it doesn't go to the person who has written the article. The Greens are really proud that our spokesperson, Senator Hanson-Young, secured the inclusion of public broadcasters—the ABC and SBS—in the code and that we were able to negotiate for public funding to protect that other news wire service, the AAP, in the short term. But let me be crystal clear: we know that this bill cannot solve all of the issues of public interest journalism or media concentration in Australia, and we acknowledge and are at the forefront of all the work that still needs to occur.

We remain greatly concerned about the role that the Murdoch media monopoly plays in our democracy. That's why we have, since time immemorial, opposed all of the moves to further concentrate media ownership and we have always voted against laws that would seek to facilitate that concentration of media ownership. It's also why we supported the petition of former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, which gained the support of half a million Australians, I might add. It's exactly why there was a need for the media diversity inquiry to be established, which we participated in setting up—indeed, we chair it, and we heard some great content just last week.

But no billionaire—no individual, whether it's Rupert Murdoch or Mark Zuckerberg—should have control over the news and the information that Australians are allowed to access. We need a free press. We need a diversity of news ownership, a diversity of news and views, and we need strong public interest journalism. That is what helps keep a democracy robust; it is what helps hold power to account.

The other tasks are, of course, to make sure that new and big tech companies pay their fair share of tax, to raise the revenue to fund public broadcaster and public interest journalism. I'm going to speak a little bit more about that this evening and, indeed, move an amendment that addresses that very point. We also desperately need to secure the ABC's funding in legislation so it cannot be cut by future governments. This particular government has a terrible track record of slashing and slashing and slashing the ABC. They have lost so many staff. Every year, there's a new round of excellent-quality journalists who are then put on the scrap heap thanks to this government continually cutting the ABC's funding. We could fix that by securing that funding in legislation, and the Greens intend to continue to lead the charge for that to occur.

We also need to protect the AAP Newswire with long-term public funding. It, too, is a crucial news service and it also helps bolster some of those regional and rural outlets that provide excellent local news but that also rely on AAP copy, again, undertaken by very well-qualified and very efficient journalists. They are the broader issues that we at the Greens are conscious still need to be rectified. We don't propose that this media bill is a solution to those things—it is one step—but we will continue to campaign for all of those reforms to ensure that we have diverse, properly funded public broadcasters and public interest journalism, which in fact benefits all Australians and makes our democracy function more strongly.

The Greens will be moving several amendments to this bill. My colleague Senator Hanson-Young has already talked about the fact that she will move a second reading amendment to ensure that the government doesn't cut ABC funding in a manner that might offset the money gained under the code. We very much look forward to support for that amendment; it is a crucial one. Another colleague will also move an amendment relating to protecting data rights and ensuring that users have control over how their data is collected—much like the gold standard the EU have recently implemented.

I'll come back to the amendment that I will foreshadow and speak about, but we'll also have some amendments when we come to the committee stage to make sure that the money that news organisations gain through the code is spent in the newsrooms, not in the boardrooms, and that that money is invested in public interest journalism, not just into the pockets of shareholders or overseas parent companies as profit. We'll also move substantive amendments to make sure that the impact that the code has on small and independent and startup news organisations is examined with a 12-month review of the code. I note that many of those smaller outlets, including The Guardian and Junkie to name a few, are in strong support of this code. Nevertheless, we think it is prudent to review the effects and the operation of the code after 12 months and we will be moving an amendment to that effect as well.

If I can come to the amendment that I foreshadow I will be moving, it is to note that billionaire Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation controls much of the Australian media, that billionaire Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook controls much of Australia's online activity, and that both big corporations pay little to no tax in Australia. It would also note that the Senate is of the opinion that implementing a media code is not the best way of addressing the growing power of the billionaires and the big corporations and that, in fact, we call on the government to deal with the growing concentration of media and online ownership by implementing new tax measures, by funding public interest journalism and by increasing media diversity. So with that said, I foreshadow that I will so move that second reading amendment on sheet 1213. I conclude my remarks.