QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE
Dr MULINO (Fraser—Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services) (14:33): I thank the member for Jagajaga for her question. As a former journalist, the member for Jagajaga knows all too well how important it is to support local news organisations and Australia's media, more generally. She knows how Australian communities rely on local news, on independent journalism and on Australian stories told with Australian voices and through Australian eyes.
But the business model that supports journalism has been disrupted by major digital platforms that benefit from news content and the attention it attracts. The news bargaining incentive is about making the system fairer. It gives digital platforms a clear incentive to do commercial deals with Australian news publishers, rather than leaving publishers to negotiate from a weak position.
Under the news media bargaining code, platforms could withdraw news and avoid bargaining altogether. The incentive closes that gap by creating a clear choice: do fair commercial deals now or pay more. This reform is designed to increase both the number and spread of commercial deals.
It includes stronger incentives for platforms to reach agreements with small and medium publishers, as well as regional and diverse media, and so to support flows across the new sector and not just to the big players. That is the point of this reform—more deals, more support for publishers and a more sustainable future for Australian journalism. The message for platforms is simple. do fair deals now.
If big tech benefits from Australian journalism, big tech should help to support it. As part of developing this legislation, we have consulted extensively both inside and outside of parliament. I do want to thank the opposition and also members of the crossbench and the Greens for their constructive engagement and for their support of this legislation, and I'm pleased to inform the House that this legislation has now just passed the other place.
I would also like to thank the Minister for Communications for her partnership and her significant contribution to this policy area. If big tech decides not to do deals, the government has committed to passing all moneys collected directly back to news organisations through a mechanism that is contained in the News Journalism Payments Bill, with amounts based on the number of journalists employed.
Allocating funds based on the number of journalists reflects the core public policy rationale of this measure. Importantly, there is a 20 per cent loading for small and diverse publishers. This is a sensible approach that locks in support for public-interest journalism.
Finally, I'd like to acknowledge the Prime Minister's leadership on this world-leading policy over a number of years. The message for Australians is clear: the Albanese government is backing the journalism that informs our democracy, that strengthens our communities and that tells Australian stories to Australian audiences.