News Journalism Payments Bill 2026, News Journalism Payments (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2026, News Media Bargaining (Administration) Bill 2026, News Media Bargaining Charge Bill 2026, Treasury Laws Amendment (News Media Bargaining) (Consequential) Bill 2026
Senator WATT (Queensland—Minister for the Environment and Water) (10:11): I table a revised explanatory memorandum relating to three of the bills and I move: That these bills be now read a second time. I seek leave to have the second reading speeches incorporated in Hansard. Leave granted.
The speech es read as follows— NEWS JOURNALISM PAYMENTS BILL 2026 Introduction Journalism matters. It matters to our democracy, to the health and cohesion of our communities, and to Australians who rely on trusted reporting to understand what is happening locally, nationally and around the world. But quality journalism does not happen on its own.
It is reliant on skilled journalists, strong newsrooms and sustainable news organisations. In a 24-hour news cycle, people expect news to be accurate, timely and available—wherever they live. To deliver this, Australia needs more journalists, not fewer.
Because journalists are the lifeblood of Australian news. They tell our stories, hold governments and institutions to account and provide Australians with the information they need. The News Bargaining Incentive is not intended to raise revenue.
Its purpose is to encourage commercial deals between digital platforms and news publishers, as was envisioned under the previous News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code. To be clear—the government's firm preference is that platforms do deals with publishers. News content contributes to engagement, trust and the overall value of major digital platforms.
It enriches their feeds and drives revenue. And that is why platforms should make a fair commercial contribution to sustaining it. If they don't—they will end up paying more.
The incentive responds to the imbalance in bargaining power between large digital platforms and Australian news publishers. That imbalance is particularly acute for smaller publishers, which do not have the same resources or commercial leverage as larger organisations. If digital platforms decide to pay the charge instead of making commercial deals, there must be a fit-for-purpose mechanism to return that revenue to Australian journalism.
That is what this bill does. Any revenue raised by the News Bargaining Incentive will be used to support the sustainability of news and journalism in Australia. The bill establishes the News Journalism Payment Scheme, which will distribute any revenue raised by the News Bargaining Incentive to eligible Australian news organisations, supporting a sustainable, diverse and independent news sector.
It will use a statutory, formula-based model to provide stable, transparent and proportionate funding based on investment in public interest journalism. Context A high-quality and trusted journalism sector is fundamental to Australia's democracy and the way we live. A rich and diverse media landscape keeps Australians informed, connects local communities, helps combat misinformation and disinformation, and supports social cohesion.
Local journalists report on the decisions and events that directly affect the people they serve. They cover councils, schools, courts, businesses and neighbourhoods. But quality journalism is costly to produce.
And the economics of producing news has changed. The commercial revenue that once supported news production is diminishing. Advertising income has been significantly eroded by the shift to online—a market dominated by the same digital platforms that do not compensate Australian journalism.
Between 2006 and 2022, the commercial broadcasters' share of Australian advertising expenditure fell from 43 per cent to 17 per cent as advertisers moved their spending online.[] That decline threatens Australians' access to quality public-interest journalism. That is why the government is creating a statutory solution to support public-interest journalism and the journalists who produce it.
Key Provisions of the Bill The News Journalism Payment Scheme will distribute any revenue raised by the News Bargaining Incentive to eligible Australian news organisations. The Australian Communications and Media Authority administers the Register of eligible news businesses under the News Media Bargaining Code. News businesses will need to be registered to apply for a payment under the News Journalism Payment Scheme.
There will be two payment periods following the collection of any revenue through the News Bargaining Incentive. Payments will be allocated according to the number of journalists an organisation employs, including freelancers. Put simply: the more journalists an organisation employs, the larger its payment will be.
Eligible roles will include journalists, photojournalists, videographers, data and visual journalists, and editors and producers involved in producing core news content. Using journalists as the basis for payment recognises the vital work they do investigating, analysing, compiling and reporting the stories that matter to Australians. A 20 per cent increase will apply for journalists working in regional and remote areas, journalists employed by small-to-medium news organisations, and journalists working in news organisations that serve diverse communities.
This recognises the challenges of employing staff in regional and remote Australia and the financial pressures experienced by small-to-medium publishers. It also supports publishers serving communities that are underrepresented in Australia's media landscape. Those communities deserve news services that understand their experiences and report on the issues that matter to them.
Payments made under the News Journalism Payment Scheme will serve a clear and valid public purpose: supporting ongoing investment in Australian news and journalism. The bill will therefore impose obligations on payment recipients to maintain their journalists in respect of the payment received across the relevant period. The scheme is not about providing payments without obligations.
It is about supporting journalists to remain in the jobs that are vital to the production of public interest journalism. Additional support for small publishers and start-ups I take this opportunity to thank the many news organisations, broadcasters, academics and other stakeholders that participated in public consultation on the News Journalism Payment Scheme.
Their feedback has informed the final design of the scheme. One of the clearest messages from consultation was that additional support is needed for very small publishers and start-ups seeking to establish core news services online. That need is particularly acute in areas where there is currently insufficient news coverage—often described as news deserts.
The bill therefore provides for a special allocation of five per cent of any revenue raised by the News Bargaining Incentive for a separate grants program. That program will focus on supporting small publishers and start-ups to build their businesses and produce news for local communities. This support matters.
Smaller publishers often operate with limited resources and face a disadvantage when dealing with the world's largest digital platforms. Yet they can also be the organisations closest to the communities they serve. They report on local issues that may never make national headlines and provide a voice for people who might otherwise go unheard.
Additional support for Australian Associated Press Australian Associated Press plays a unique and vital role in Australia's media landscape. Through its wholesale news service, AAP provides its newswire service to more than 400 Australian news publishers, with more than 300 of those located in regional areas. For many news organisations, particularly those with limited resources, AAP's reporting helps supplement local coverage and ensure Australians continue to have access to trusted news.
That work delivers benefits well beyond any single publisher. AAP supports the production and distribution of quality journalism at scale, helping to strengthen the diversity, reach and resilience of the Australian news sector. Under the Bill, AAP will receive a dedicated allocation of five per cent of any revenue raised through the News Bargaining Incentive, acknowledging the essential role it plays in supporting public interest journalism and news organisations across Australia.
Conclusion News and journalism are critical to the proper functioning of Australia's democratic system of government, the health and cohesion of our communities, and keeping Australians informed. Australia must continue to have a free, diverse and independent news sector. But news is costly to make.
The government's News Media Assistance Program is already providing much-needed funding to news organisations, including by supporting the ongoing employment of thousands of journalists across Australia. We want journalists to be able to focus on providing Australians with high-quality journalism without having to worry about the stability of their jobs. After all, it is people who produce public-interest journalism.
We need more journalists reporting from our cities, from regional and remote Australia, and from communities that have too often been underrepresented. This bill builds on the government's commitment to Australian jobs, quality journalism and a sustainable, diverse and independent media sector. NEWS JOURNALISM PAYMENTS (CONSEQUENTIAL AMENDMENTS) BILL 2026 Introduction This Bill accompanies the News Journalism Payments Bill 2026, which will establish the News Journalism Payment Scheme to distribute any revenue raised by the News Bargaining Incentive to eligible Australian news organisations.
The News Journalism Payment Scheme will support a sustainable, diverse and independent media sector, and forms part of the broad package of Bills related to the News Bargaining Incentive. The News Journalism Payment Scheme requires consequential amendments to the Competition and Consumer Act 2010. These amendments are necessary to support the creation of the News Journalism Payment Scheme and its eligibility requirements.
This Bill provides those consequential amendments. Key Provisions of the Bill The Bill will enable the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) to share information with the Secretary of the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, Sport and the Arts, as the administrator of the Scheme, regarding changes to the registration of news organisations.
Under the News Journalism Payment Scheme, news organisations will be required to register on ACMA's Register of eligible news businesses to participate in the Scheme. The provision of timely information by ACMA regarding any changes to a news organisation's registration will support the efficient and effective administration of the News Journalism Payment Scheme.
NEWS MEDIA BARGAINING (ADMINISTRATION) BILL 2026 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 matters.
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. 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. NEWS MEDIA BARGAINING CHARGE BILL 2026 This Bill accompanies the News Media Bargaining (Administration) Bill to impose the charge and establish the rate of charge that underpins the News Bargaining Incentive framework. The charge is set at 2.75 per cent of Australian digital advertising revenue generated from significant search and social media services operated in Australia.
The charge works with the offset mechanism in the Administration Bill, to create a clear incentive for commercial agreements to be made by digital platforms to support a strong and diverse Australian news ecosystem. Full details of the measure are contained in the Explanatory Memorandum. TREASURY LAWS AMENDMENT (NEWS MEDIA BARGAINING) (CONSEQUENTIAL) BILL 2026 This Bill accompanies the News Media Bargaining (Administration) Bill to make a range of consequential amendments necessary to support the operation of the News Bargaining Incentive.
These amendments provide the supporting aspects of the framework required for administration, collection and enforcement—ensuring that there is appropriate interaction with existing tax laws. They are an important component needed to effectively deliver the policy objective to support the sustainability and diversity of Australia's news media sector. Full details of the measure are contained in the Explanatory Memorandum.