Joint media release
Shadow Minister for Communications and Digital Safety, Senator the Hon Sarah Henderson
Shadow Assistant Treasurer and Shadow Minister for Financial Services, Hon Kevin Hogan MP
Labor’s News Bargaining Incentive (NBI) scheme provides a concerning free kick to the multinational tech giants at the expense of Australian news outlets, according to Shadow Minister for Communications and Digital Safety, Sarah Henderson, and Shadow Assistant Treasurer, Kevin Hogan.
The government has made a number of last-minute changes to the scheme, including limiting the penalty imposed on digital platforms for not completing commercial deals to a percentage of Australian advertising revenue, dramatically short-changing Australian media companies.
Under the exposure draft of the NBI released in April, platforms which refused to strike commercial deals of equal or greater value faced a 2.25 per cent penalty calculated on gross Australian revenues.
While the government has increased the charge rate to 2.5 per cent, it is estimated this about-face will mean billions of dollars of revenues earned by the tech giants will not be included in the scheme.
“Our journalists and news organisations play a vital role in our democracy. They need to be properly compensated when digital platforms such as Meta, Google, TikTok and Microsoft profit from Australian news content,” Senator Henderson said.
“For more than two years, Labor has let big tech off the hook, failing to enforce the world-first News Media Bargaining Code established by the Coalition.”
“Labor’s dithering and delay on a promised replacement scheme has left tech giants unaccountable for their use of Australian copyrighted news content, while newsrooms and regional newspapers face uncertainty about their future.”
“While we will consider the details of this scheme in good faith, it’s clear Labor is more concerned about giving the tech giants a free kick than distributing monies fairly to Australian news organisations.”
“Not only will Labor’s scheme mean less money for Australian journalism, the government is now doing even less to encourage commercial deals with big tech which is extremely disappointing.”
“Once again, Communications Minister Anika Wells is demonstrating she is not tough enough to put Australian media companies first,” Senator Henderson said.
While the Coalition welcomes some changes to the NBI such as the inclusion of professional networking sites such as LinkedIn, Shadow Assistant Treasurer Kevin Hogan also raised concerns about the transparency of the scheme.
“Labor’s scheme will only work if digital platforms accurately report their Australian revenues but we are yet to understand how this will work in practice,” Mr Hogan said.
“The tech giants have a dubious history of publishing Australian news content without payment and we need to ensure there are no loopholes which allow this to continue.”
“Assistant Treasurer Daniel Mulino said today the amount of revenue going to media companies will be preserved but where is the evidence to back up this claim?”
“After the Albanese government’s budget of lies and broken promises, Australians have no reason to trust anything this government says,” Mr Hogan said.