Kevin Hogan (Page, National Party, Assistant Minister to the Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I will just talk to the Treasury Laws Amendment (News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code) Bill 2020. This is obviously a bill that is dealing with an industry that is very dynamic, with a lot of issues to deal with and a lot of things to talk about and keep up with, in some cases. The world often moves a lot more quickly than we can keep up with in this place with legislation.

The bill is obviously establishing a mandatory code of conduct to address the bargaining power imbalances between digital platform services and Australian news businesses. However, it does not preclude parties from undertaking commercial negotiations or reaching deals outside the code. The bill establishes a framework to empower the minister to designate certain digital platforms and services with significant bargaining power and to empower the ACMA to register certain news media businesses with annual revenue of over $150,000 which have the primary purpose of creating and publishing core news and which operate predominantly in and for Australia.

It also brings the parties within a negotiate-arbitrate model that allows parties to bargain in good faith and reach binding agreements or access an independent arbiter to determine remuneration under final offer arbitration, should the parties be unable to reach agreement. It also enables digital platforms to publish standard offers which provide smaller news media businesses with a pathway to finalise agreements and set minimum standards for digital platforms, including requiring 14 days advance notice of algorithm changes that impact news media businesses. Digital platforms can be brought into the code if there is sufficient evidence to establish that they give rise to a bargaining power imbalance, and the code will be reviewed within one year of commencement of the bill.

As I said, there is certainly a lot to talk about in this industry. This is an important bill that we discuss here, and I commend the bill.

See this speech in context