News Media Bargaining (Administration) Bill 2026
Dr MULINO (Fraser—Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services) (09:15): I move: That this bill be now read a second time. The News Media Bargaining (Administration) Bill 2026 forms part of the government's commitment to support a strong, sustainable and diverse Australian news media sector. At its core, this bill is about a simple proposition: if large digital platforms benefit from Australian news, they should make a fair contribution to sustaining it.
Australian journalism matters to our democracy, informed public debate and local communities that rely on trusted reporting. But the economics of journalism have changed. Advertising revenue that once helped fund Australian newsrooms has shifted substantially to large global digital platforms.
At the same time, Australians continue to rely on news businesses to create quality news content that requires journalists, editors, photographers and producers. That imbalance is not new. It was why the parliament supported the News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code in 2021.
The code was an important reform. It helped secure commercial agreements, supported investment in public interest journalism and recognised the bargaining power imbalance between large platforms and the news organisations whose content helps inform, engage and retain users. But the code has a limitation.
A platform can seek to avoid bargaining obligations by withdrawing or reducing the availability of news content. That is not good enough. Australian journalism should not depend on whether a large digital platform chooses to carry news, and platforms should not avoid contributing by simply walking away from it.
That is why the government is acting. This bill establishes the administrative framework for the news bargaining incentive. The purpose of the incentive is clear.
We want platforms and news businesses to do commercial deals. That is the government's preference, the market based outcome this legislation is designed to encourage, and what will best support a sustainable, diverse and independent Australian news sector. The bill applies objective criteria to identify the largest digital platforms with significant search or social media services and substantial Australian digital advertising revenue.
It is targeted at those platforms with the greatest market power and the greatest capacity to contribute. The bill establishes a charge and offset mechanism. In-scope digital platforms will incur a liability based on their digital advertising revenue attributable to the operation of a significant search or social media services in Australia.
But platforms can reduce or fully extinguish that liability through eligible expenditure under commercial agreements with Australian news businesses. In other words, platforms have a clear choice. They can do fair commercial deals that support Australian journalism, or, if they choose not to, they will pay the charge.
This is not about raising revenue for the government. Any revenue raised will be returned in full to the Australian news sector through the news journalism payment scheme. The incentive is deliberately focused on encouraging deals.
The offset is generous, recognises commercial agreements and provides enhanced incentives for agreements with small and medium news businesses. That matters because media diversity is important for our democracy. This reform is not only about major media organisations; it is also about independent publishers, regional outlets and smaller newsrooms that serve local communities and add to media diversity.
The bill encourages support to be spread across the sector, rather than concentrated among a small number of large organisations. Platforms will need eligible agreements with at least eight different news organisations to obtain the offset. That requirement reinforces the central purpose of the scheme: more deals, with more news organisations, supporting more Australian journalism.
The government has consulted extensively on the design of the News Bargaining Incentive. We have listened to feedback and made targeted refinements to better align the legislation with its policy objective. Those refinements include narrowing the charge base to Australian digital advertising revenue from significant search and social media services, strengthening the incentives for commercial agreements, and providing greater support for small and medium publishers.
The result is a practical and targeted reform. Like the Minister for Communications, I would like to acknowledge the contributions to the development of this policy from many stakeholders over a long period of time. It has added significantly to the quality of the outcome that we are announcing as a government today.
It strengthens the news media bargaining code, responds to changes in digital markets, backs Australian journalism, and ensures large digital platforms cannot avoid making a fair contribution to the news content from which they derive value. Public interest journalism is not free to produce. It takes journalists on the ground, editors, producers, photographers, newsrooms and a sustainable commercial foundation.
Australians should be able to access trusted information about their communities, economy and democracy, told through Australian eyes and with an Australian perspective. That is what this bill supports. The government wants large digital platforms to enter into and maintain fair commercial agreements with Australian news businesses.
Where they do, they can reduce their liability. Where they do not, they will pay a charge that goes back to supporting Australian journalism. That is fair.
That is practical. And it is the right thing to do for the long-term sustainability and diversity of Australia's news media sector. Full details of the measure are contained in the explanatory memorandum.
Debate adjourned.