Jane Hume (Victoria, Liberal Party, Minister for Superannuation, Financial Services and the Digital Economy) Share this | Hansard source

Firstly I would like to thank those senators that have contributed to this debate. This bill, the Treasury Laws Amendment (News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code) Bill 2021, establishes a world-first mandatory code to address the bargaining power imbalance that exists between digital platforms and Australian news media businesses.

Consumers are now obtaining more and more news online while, at the same time, digital platforms are thriving with their advertising revenues growing in leaps and bounds. In these circumstances it is unacceptable that digital platforms continue to earn revenue from news content created by Australian news media businesses without fairly remunerating them. The ACCC found that this situation arises because of an imbalance of bargaining power between digital platforms and local news businesses. The code addresses this problem in a fair and flexible way. It is a key part of the government's strategy to ensure that Australians continue to enjoy the benefits of digital technology while at the same time protecting key elements of Australian society, such as a strong, sustainable and independent Australian news media. The code will be reviewed by Treasury one year after its operation, to ensure that it is delivering on its outcomes and that the outcomes are consistent with the government's policy intent.

I thank the Senate Economics Legislation Committee for its consideration of this bill and welcome the finding that it will help safeguard public interest journalism in Australia. I note the additional comments from Labor senators and, in particular, their view that the government's work on the code has improved the responsiveness of digital platforms to the news media businesses.

I also want to address the additional comments from the Australian Greens in the Senate economics committee report and the additional recommendations that they put forward. The government does not support the Greens' recommendations. The Morrison government is a strong supporter of public interest news and, in June 2020, announced that 107 regional publishers and broadcasters would receive a share of $50 million in funding as part of the Public Interest News Gathering program, the PING. Of the 107 eligible applicants, 92 are regional publishers, 13 are regional radio broadcasters and five are regional television broadcasters, the majority of which operate as small to medium businesses. I can further advise the Senate—and this goes directly to Senator Pratt's amendment to the second reading motion, which the government will also be opposing—that in September 2020 the minister for communications announced that $5 million of funding would be provided to AAP Newswire to enable them to continue to offer their services to more than 250 regional mastheads that are serving local communities.

Senator McKim's amendment goes to the collection of data. I note that, on 12 December 2019, the Attorney-General announced that the government would conduct a review of the Privacy Act 1988 to ensure that privacy settings empower consumers, protect their data and best serve the Australian economy. The review was announced as part of the government's response to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's Digital Platforms Inquiry. The issues raised by Senator McKim should be addressed in the context of that review rather than this legislation.

Similarly, the Senate is currently conducting an inquiry into the concentration of news media in Australia—the subject of Senator Waters's amendment. The government does not support the contention in Senator Waters's amendment, and those issues should be addressed in the committee context rather than in the context of this bill's second reading debate.

With regard to Senator Hanson-Young's amendment to the motion on the ABC, the government does not support that amendment, and I note that the ABC has more funding certainty than any other media company in Australia, and that is because taxpayers provide the ABC with over $1 billion in funding every year. I also note that the government has been very clear that any proceeds that the ABC receives from Google or from Facebook under the news media bargaining code are not going to be debited from, or lead to a reduction in, the funding that the government is otherwise providing to the ABC. I commend this bill to the Senate.