Stephen Jones (Throsby, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

And I hear the member for Bass talk about the tragedy of the loss of journalistic and editorial staff from the Examiner, an excellent regional newspaper in his electorate and in northern Tasmania. It would be no surprise to the member for Bass, as it is not a surprise to me, that Fairfax has sacked over 1,900 staff.

Mr Frydenberg interjecting—

I ask you—and I ask the member for Kooyong, because I am sure he is going to be on his feet in a moment; he has had a hell of a lot to say in interjections—how can a convergence of the media lead to the employment of more paid journalists in this country? I am sure he is going to be able to explain to the House how the taking over of one media company by another media company is going to lead to more journalists being employed. The facts are against him. History is against him—over 1,900 editorial jobs lost from Fairfax in the last 18 months, including from the local Fairfax newspaper in my town, the Illawarra Mercury, a fine newspaper. The subeditorial work is now being performed in New Zealand. I take nothing away from the excellent editorial staff and journalists in New Zealand, but I would rather see those people employed in Wollongong. I would rather see those staff working for a Fairfax outlet in New South Wales.

We have heard a 15-minute hypocritical tirade from the member for Sturt about freedom of speech, overlooking the fact that it is his party that sought to impose gag orders on people who held different views from that of the former government. His is the party that sought to have suppression orders preventing the full operation of the freedom of information laws. His is the party that has had nothing to say for the victims of misreporting. It is his party that says: 'If you feel like you have been a victim of misreporting, put $10,000 on the table and then hire the best QC you can; good luck, son.' We do not all have the means to do that. There are no voices for the victims, no voices for the journalists but plenty of voices for the big end of town, once again. Let us see some balance in this debate. Let us see some genuine debate, some genuine balance and ensure that at the end of this sitting we have a good bill that we can send to the Senate to ensure that we get better laws and a better media and that we will continue to defend— (Time expired)

See this speech in context