Source: Prime Minister of Australia
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good morning. Thanks for joining us. Today, Australia pauses to remember the 35 people whose lives and futures were stolen from them at Port Arthur 30 years ago. We think of everyone whose world was shattered by the loss of those innocent victims. We think of, and thank again, the first responders, and we think of the broader Tasmanian community as well. We think of Walter Mikac, who channelled his devastating loss into a call for national action on gun law reform. And out of tragedy, it is important to remember that Australia is a better place because the Howard government and the parliament of the day came together to answer Walter’s call. This will be a very difficult day for many people, and our thoughts are with them today.
Can I also announce today that I have made a decision to recommend to the Governor-General that Meghan Quinn be appointed as the Secretary of the Department of Defence. Meghan is a senior leader in the Australian Public Service. She’s currently the Secretary of the Department of Industry, Science and Resources. Ms Quinn’s term will commence on the 18 May for a five-year period. Ms Quinn will be the first woman to be the permanent Secretary of the Department of Defence, and is an outstanding public servant who, after an exhaustive process that we went through, was clearly the standout candidate. I do want to take the opportunity once again to thank Greg Moriarty for his service, and I look forward to working with him in his new capacity as Australia’s Ambassador to the United States.
Today, we’ve just come from Cabinet and we can announce today that our Government is taking the next steps to ensure that Australian journalism is sustainable now and into the future by ensuring that large digital platforms cannot avoid their obligations under the News Media Bargaining Code. The News Bargaining Incentive will go to the next stage. We released a discussion paper in November. We had submissions in December. And today we’re releasing an exposure draught of the legislation. That is an exposure draught which will encourage dealmaking between the platforms and news organisations. It will envisage some 2.25 per cent of Australian revenue being paid. That can be offset through deals, by 150 per cent for deals done with traditional media and 170 per cent through deals done through smaller media organisations. We want to see these commercial arrangements occur. If they do occur, then it’s expected that that figure will drop to 1.5 per cent and will produce revenue of between $200 and $250 million dollars, which is the figure that was envisaged to be on the previous regime that has needed to be fixed.
Importantly as well, this is not about government revenue. Every single dollar will go back to journalists to pay for the journalism that you all produce here in the Gallery, but newsrooms right around the country produce as well. This is important for the integrity of the system. We have engaged in extensive consultation. At this point, the three organisations, Meta, Google, and TikTok as well have been consulted with and we’ll continue to engage with. But we want to see these deals done as were previously done under the previous regime. But it is a regime that did need reform, and that is precisely why we are doing it today. We think that investment in journalism is critical to a healthy democracy. It matters. It’s something that defines the way that Australian society operates. And frankly, if the work is being done by the people here at this press conference and in other places right around Australia, then your work needs to have a monetary value attached to it. It shouldn’t just be able to be taken by a large multinational corporation and used to generate profits for that organisation with no compensation appropriate for the people who produce that creative content.
And so, this is a fix that we are putting forward. There’s no substitute for Australian news and stories being told by Australian journalists. We envisage that we’ll introduce this legislation in the winter sittings, and we would ask for broad support right across the Parliament, right across the House and the Senate for this legislation. But the reason for the exposure draft being released is so that people can have full transparency about what we are planning to do here. I’ll ask the ministers to make comments and then we’re happy to take questions.
< DANIEL MULINO, ASSISTANT TREASURER:
As the PM indicated, the incentive is set at a level at 2.25 per cent, such that if digital platforms enter into deals where there’s a 150 per cent offset, they will end up paying an amount equivalent to 1.5 per cent of their revenue, which is our estimate of the deals that they had entered into under previous arrangements. There is a slightly more generous offset of 170 per cent for deals that are entered into with small media organisations, which is a reflection of the importance of diversity in the media. The test for which digital platforms are covered is a two-limb test, which will cover Meta, Google, and TikTok and eligible expenditure under the deals will include amounts of money that are spent to support the production of news. I’ll just conclude by saying that the intention here is that digital platforms will enter into deals, and that’s very much the way this has been designed, and that then is a segue into the work of my colleague, Minister Wells.
< ANIKA WELLS, MINISTER FOR COMMUNICATIONS:
The News Media Bargaining Incentive means if a platform doesn’t do a deal with a news publisher, the money will come to us and we will deliver that funding to news organisations based on how many journalists they employ. The more journalists they have, the more money they will get under this proposal. And we are consulting on this to make sure that we get it right, because local news matters to local communities, and these stories can’t be told without backing Australian journalists. And that’s exactly what the Albanese Government is doing.
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