Ben Small (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to address the chamber today on the very important matter of the Treasury Laws Amendment (News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code) Bill 2021. It should come as no surprise to honourable senators here today that, yet again, the eyes of the world are on Australia and on the Morrison government because not only in our response to the global COVID-19 pandemic, but also in this very important area, the Morrison government is at the very forefront of progress on important matters.

This bill, as we've heard around the chamber today, establishes a world first mandatory code to address the bargaining power imbalances between digital platforms and Australian news businesses. As someone who grew up in regional and rural Australia, I found that Senator McDonald's comments resonated very strongly with me as someone who understands fundamentally the importance to the Australian people of access to journalism that represents them, their lives, their communities, the places in which they choose to bring up their children. So it is absolutely right that it is a priority of the Morrison government to ensure and sustain the accessibility of quality public interest journalism across Australia.

I guess the reality of this situation is that regulation around large digital platforms is a very new thing. When I first went to high school iPhones and iPods were not yet a thing. Yet now Facebook and Google are ubiquitous in our lives not only online in the content that we consume but in appliances and in a sweeping connectivity thanks to the Internet of Things. So the very real question for governments not just here in Australia but around the globe is: how do we appropriately regulate those businesses in a way that doesn't undermine their business models, and doesn't undermine the business models of other sectors, yet allows fairness, transparency and the integrity that we've come to expect in all aspects of Australian business, including the fourth estate?

Consumers are obtaining more and more news online. That reflects the broader shift in the way Australians consume much of the material that we see, listen to and read. For instance, I long ago stopped my hardcopy newspaper subscription and instead read Australian journalism on my iPad. I think that makes me not an outlier but very much in line with most Australians—traditional business models have been disrupted by the rise and rise of technology.

It is very clear from the bill before the parliament that it is the Morrison government's intention to ensure that the sustainability and future of Australian media outlets is embedded in a mandatory code that will enhance, not undermine, public interest journalism. It's no bad thing that the digital platforms are thriving. In fact, that's a very good thing for Australians. But the reality is that their advertising revenues are growing in leaps and bounds. Those very same advertising revenues were once what supported quality journalism in rural, regional and urban Australia.

My very first job was, in fact, delivering a regional newspaper. I was particularly grieved to see that the BunburyMail, which provided me with that very first taste of what it is to be employed in Australia, was unfortunately suspended at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Those are very fond memories of mine: rising early in the morning, heading down to the warehouse with my long-suffering mother, collecting vast bundles of newspapers and advertising pamphlets, which we had to hand insert into each paper, and delivering them across the neighbourhood, all before turning up to school bright-eyed, bushy-tailed and ready to go again.

The point, there, is that quality journalism is important to me and is important to the Morrison government. That's why we encourage parties to undertake commercial negotiations, either inside or outside the provisions of this code. The code itself does, however, set a minimum standard for commercial negotiations between Australian news and media businesses and the digital platforms to address that power imbalance that was so clearly evident in the ACCC report and has been the subject of further inquiry with the good work of the Senate committee, ably chaired by my colleague and fellow Western Australian Senator Brockman.

The minimum standards in that code are an advance notice of major algorithm changes, and it's quite important that we recognise the bill contemplates only a content algorithm and not an advertising algorithm. Good-faith bargaining is a principle that upholds all business relations in Australia and, where a commercial deal cannot be reached, a process of fair and balanced arbitration. That process of arbitration—as we've seen some uncertainty eliminated in recent days and weeks—is a lump-sum payment. It is no disincentive to businesses doing well in Australia today.

Senator McDonald raised a very pertinent question, I think, in reflecting on just how much of that advertising revenue goes to the big two digital giants, being Facebook and Google. Honourable senators would be startled to know that $81 in every $100 of online advertising spend in Australia goes to Google and Facebook. In any other market where we saw two players with 81 per cent of the market, Australians would rightly expect that there'd be mandatory provisions within Australia to ensure that good-faith element and uphold the sorts of things that we expect in the course of life.

The code provides for digital platforms to publish standard offers, which are a way for smaller news media businesses to avoid the cost and time of going to arbitration. That's a very real disadvantage for small businesses, which I know too well, and so it's a great thing. Enforcing clearly defined and open standards allows for greater transparency for both parties. I think the Treasurer has been clear that, at this stage, the code will only apply to the Facebook News Feed and Google Search. That very much reflects this 81 per cent share of the market they currently enjoy and, therefore, they have the ability to clearly impact Australian society and Australia's place in the world. Indeed, we have seen an unprecedented level of interest internationally in this Australian legislation, precisely because of the fact that these platforms do have such an ability to influence life here and elsewhere.

I can think of no better example than, as Senator Chandler raised—and this is something that I guess stunned myself, Minister Reynolds and Senator Brockman as Western Australians, along with our fellow WA colleagues—Facebook's egregious breach of faith in blocking access to Zak Kirkup's Facebook page whilst maintaining full rights for the Premier of Western Australia, Mark McGowan, to publish his material. This comes in the midst of an election campaign. It goes to fundamentally undermine an important democratic process that's underway, and so, whilst it might be funny for some to refer to Zach Kirkup as being 'zucked', the rest of us look on aghast. The reality is Zach Kirkup was not alone. WA has recently been struck by very serious bushfires in the Perth hills, so access to Western Australia's Department of Fire and Emergency Services page was blocked, along with the Hobart Womens Shelter. Dare I say, I'm probably not going to come to the assistance of the ACTU in this place very often; however, even the ACTU was deprived of its ability to communicate effectively as a result of Facebook's actions.

We are seeing a response from the Australian people to come out strongly in support of this bill, to come out in support of what is fair and decent and in support of what protects journalism and the generation of quality news content in Australia, particularly regional and rural Australia, and that's welcome. But it is also worthy of reflection that we actually encourage Facebook and Google to continue their important roles in Australia. We contemplate that this bill provides for continued presence in Australia where they and media businesses are able to thrive and prosper together. That is a good thing for all Australians. The actions that they took in retaliation to the Australian parliament contemplating in this provision were rightly egregious; they have since been wound back. So we see that the way forward is to reflect on the provisions of the bill, which have been subject to significant scrutiny. This was not a thought bubble. This was not an idea that the Morrison government has rolled out in undue haste, as honourable senators have previously reflected on; this is a matter of some three years now of reflection, inquiry and careful consideration.

So, with the transparency of due process, with the support of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, with the good work that's been done by the Senate committee, with the support of the House of Representatives and, hopefully, the support of the Australian Senate, we will see a piece of legislation through this place which will absolutely see Australia in global headlines. It will be in global headlines for introducing a world-leading and binding code that not only addresses the power imbalance between news media businesses and digital platforms but also allows for those businesses to continue in Australia. It allows for those businesses to undertake commercial negotiations outside the code. In fact, we have already seen that, long before the passage of this bill through the Senate, and that is a fantastic show of faith by the Australian business community.

Seeing media businesses with an efficient pathway to finalise those agreements and without inhibition for small- and medium-size enterprises to reach deals with global giants will be something that Australians will applaud. Ensuring that an independent arbiter is able to determine the level of that remuneration that should be paid under a fair and balanced final offer arbitration model in the event of a dispute or the failure to see an agreement reached is an appropriate safeguard. Setting clear and workable minimum standards for digital platforms, including requiring 14 days advance notice of deliberate algorithm changes, is again something that Australians will see as fair; Australians will see that as reasonable. Most importantly, Australians in rural and regional Australia will continue to be able to enjoy news content that's generated in rural and regional Australia, news content that's meaningful to them, their families and their communities.

In short, we see only good things coming from this bill but, as any responsible government would, we've undertaken to have a review of this legislation just 12 months after its implementation to verify that the operation of the bill is delivering outcomes that are consistent with the very genuine policy intent with which this government acts. It's on that basis that I commend the provisions of the Treasury Laws Amendment (News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code) Bill 2021 to the Senate.