News Media Bargaining (Administration) Bill 2026

Ms CHANEY (Curtin) (11:43): by leave—I move amendments (1) to (7), as circulated in my name, together: (1) Clause 6, page 4 (after line 18), after the definition of amount, insert: annual income, of an entity for a financial year (the principal year), means: (a) unless paragraph (b) applies—the entity's annual revenue as set out in its annual accounts, prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, for the most recent financial year (being the principal year or an earlier financial year) for which such accounts exist; or (b) if the entity has an alternative 12-month financial reporting period—the entity's annual revenue as set out in its annual accounts, prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, for the most recent alternative 12-month financial reporting period (being a period that ends at or before the start of the principal year) for which such accounts exist.

(2) Clause 6, page 7 (after line 6), after the definition of significant social media or search service, insert: small news business corporate group, in relation to a financial year, has the meaning given by section 11A. (3) Page 12 (after line 31), after clause 11, insert: 11A Meaning of small news business corporate group A news business corporate group is small news business corporate groupfor a financial year if the sum of the annual income of each member of the group for the financial year is less than $20 million.

Note: For how to determine the annual income of a member of the group for a financial year if the member has an alternative 12-month financial reporting period, see paragraph (b) of the definition of annual incomein section 6. (4) Clause 15, page 18 (lines 7 to 9), omit the paragraph beginning "To be entitled to an offset", substitute: ‚ To be entitled to an offset, the service group must have new eligible expenditure for the financial year in relation to at least 8 different news business corporate groups, and at least 12.5% of that expenditure must be in relation to news business corporate groups with an annual income of less than $20 million.

(5) Clause 17, page 19 (line 12), omit "financial year.", substitute "financial year; and". (6) Clause 17, page 19 (after line 12), at the end of subclause 17(1), add: (c) the total new eligible expenditure of all members of the service group for the financial year, in relation to groups that are small news business corporate groups for the financial year, is at least 12.5% of the total new eligible expenditure of all members of the service group for the financial year in relation to all news business corporate groups.

(7) Clause 30, page 32 (after line 6), after subclause 30(1), insert: (1A) Without limiting subsection (1), the review must consider the operation and effect of the condition in paragraph 17(1)(c), including: (a) whether the 12.5% figure mentioned in that paragraph remains appropriate; and (b) whether the $20 million combined annual income threshold in relation to small news business corporate groups (see section 11A) remains appropriate.

The first set of these amendments would create a meaningful grant pool. They would lift the general grant stream from five per cent of levy revenue to 15 per cent, with the Australian Associated Press stream unchanged at five per cent. This would mean a total carve out of 20 per cent.

Five per cent is a non-substantive gesture. It's unlikely to sustain independent community-focused journalism, let alone grow it. Fifteen per cent can sustain journalism in communities that will never be commercially attractive to a global platform—regional towns, multicultural audiences, First Nations communities—and that a commercial deal will never reach.

The second group of amendments I have moved opens grant eligibility to the publishers who need it. At present, grants under this scheme are available only to organisations that cannot participate in the payments scheme at all. In practice, this is those organisations which are too small to register under the code and fall below the $150,000 revenue test.

The consequence is a gap that strands every independent, suburban and regional outlet in this country. They are too big for the safety net and too small for a seat at the table. In Perth that includes the POST, the Fremantle Herald, the Examiner and the Midland Echo—independently owned newspapers in a city where almost every other community masthead now sits under a single proprietor.

These amendments open grants to organisations with annual income under $20 million, whether or not they participate in the payment scheme, with priority given to those that do not. This would ensure grant funds reach the publishers currently shut out above the $150,000 threshold without displacing the smallest organisations already eligible. These changes are modest.

None of them cost the Commonwealth a dollar more than these bills already contemplate. They simply change who the money reaches. Communities deserve to be seen and heard, and that will not happen if this scheme only works for the largest voices.

I ask the government to support these amendments today before this scheme is locked in for a decade.