Bernie Ripoll (Oxley, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy Speaker, if I could have some freedom of speech in this place without being interrupted by the rude opposition, that would be much appreciated. I seek your protection in this area, through the powers that you have been given by this parliament.

The responsibility that we have in this place is not to media owners—we do not have a responsibility to them—and it is not to the media bosses. We do not have any responsibility to them. We have a responsibility to the people who elected us and to the Australian national interest. We have a responsibility to the greater good of preserving democracy and freedom of speech. And that is what we are doing. That is what we are putting forward.

People talk about the public interest and the public interest test and how all these things link up. I do not see too much public interest in some of the reporting—or what is called reporting—that goes on in this country. There is no public interest test internally, but there should be an opportunity for people who are in some way aggrieved, maligned or otherwise falsely accused. People need to have some balance. There ought to be some mechanism available for people to redress the wrongs that are done to them.

It is well and good for the big end of town to come to an inquiry in this place and talk about, for example, their privacy. I do not see privacy being a really big question mark when the media do reporting or tell some of their stories. Privacy does not seem to come into it then to too much of an extent.

But maybe we ought to do a little bit more about that. Maybe the media is right. Maybe the big bosses are right when they talk about their privacy and perhaps we should apply the same principles. So, if there is anything to be said about media reform in this country the first thing to say is that it is needed. People give you these simple lines like, 'If it ain't broke don't fix it.' All that says to me is that people either (a) are lazy, or (b) do not have any ideas. The reality is that we can always improve, we can always move forward. When it comes to media in this country we can definitely improve.

What I want to see tomorrow is journalists standing up and taking on their own profession and saying: 'We have a profession. This is an honourable trade and it is something we ought to be standing up for.' Freedom of the press is not about freedom for owners, editors and media bosses; it is about freedom for individual journalists to report the facts. So, I feel very moved, as a lot of people do, to say that we need media reform. In the public interest, through inquiries, time and a change in the public's attitude, something ought to be done. And we should not be frightened of it.

I am not sure how anyone could be scared. If you have had a look at the front pages in the last few days, there is not much left that can be done in terms of attacking an individual minister or a government with any single word or insult that can be thrown at anyone. I am not sure how creative people can be in finding anything new and more horrific for tomorrow, but I am sure they will. But that is not the central point of what I am trying—

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