Right around the world, the organisations that invest in the news are losing revenue to the tech platforms that use their work. Television, radio and newspaper newsrooms, including the National Press Gallery here in Parliament House, have felt the effects through budget cuts, staff reductions and increased workloads. I want to say to Australia's journalists, news producers, editors, photographers and videographers: we have your back. The sustainability of our news sector must be addressed, and it must be addressed urgently, because a healthy news sector is essential for a flourishing democracy. Without broadly accepted objective facts, reasoned debate becomes impossible. We talk not to each other but past each other. It makes it harder for us to maintain our great Australian sense of optimism. We literally stop being on the same page.

This legislation will help keep 28 million Australians on that same page. In a world where lies are routinely spread by bad actors, sometimes by images that are literally not real, truthful and accurate news is more important than ever. In its absence, debate is too often replaced by anger, discourse by shouting, democratic discussion by abuse and cooperation by division. As we all know, this trend, tragically, is global. But we can counter it. With this legislation, Australia is now once again taking leadership on making digital technology work for people—making sure that platforms make an appropriate contribution to the news that they rely on and from which they make enormous profits. We are showing the way to support the fourth estate, and, once again, we offer our policy as a model to the democratic world.

The News Bargaining Incentive is world-leading legislation that will help keep our media sector vibrant and sustainable into the future. It is bipartisan, and it is strong. The original news media bargaining code was designed to give Australian media companies a fair shot at doing deals with some of the largest companies on Earth, who use their content, often free of charge. This legislation, however, is needed because there is a loophole that has been used. This will keep our news gathering strong and fulfil the promise of the bargaining code. It will mean that large digital platforms cannot avoid their obligations. If those platforms fail to do deals with Australian news creators, which are what we want to see, they will incur a charge that will make its way to the Australian media sector through a payment scheme. Importantly, there is no revenue to be gained for the government. This is directly about supporting journalists. Every single dollar collected will be returned to the sector, and any funds will go directly to employing journalists.

Following extensive consultation and engagement with the opposition, other members of parliament, the media and tech stakeholders, the original legislation has been strengthened in several important ways—most notably, narrowing the charge base while increasing the rate of the incentive; increasing the number of deals that platforms need to make from six up to eight; adding professional networking sites; and broadening the definition of journalists to include additional essential news roles, including the many freelancers who produce so much new content.

I want to praise the minister for communications for the extraordinary work that she's done to consult and bring this legislation before the parliament. This means that more media companies in Australia will be supported, particularly smaller ones who will negotiate with the big tech companies en bloc, including our ethnic media organisations as well as some of the regional media organisations. It is important that we back Australia's vibrant small publishers and online news sites. Notably, five per cent of any incentive funds will be directed to AAP as a recognition of the important role that it plays in supporting public interest journalism and news organisations across Australia.

This legislation once again places Australia as the world leader when it comes to making technological change work for people. As with our social media minimum age, our gig worker reforms and our forthcoming standards for AI, we are showing that Australians will always stand up for the national interest. I commend the bill to the House.

by leave—I move amendments (1) to (13) to the News Journalism Payments Bill 2026, as circulated in my name, together:

(1) Clause 3, page 3 (lines 23 to 26), omit the paragraph beginning "Also, 5% of the revenue", substitute:

(2) Clause 40, page 39 (line 12), omit "10%", substitute "20%".

(3) Clause 44, page 43 (line 7), omit "10%", substitute "20%".

(4) Clause 93, page 87 (line 5), omit "10%", substitute "20%".

(5) Clause 93, page 87 (lines 8 to 12), omit the paragraph beginning "5% of collected charge revenue", substitute:

(6) Clause 94, page 88 (after line 11), after subclause (1), insert:

(1A) In deciding which eligible entities (if any) to make a grant of financial assistance to under subsection (1), the Secretary must give priority to eligible entities that are not approved participants for the payment period during the which the grant under subsection (1) would be paid.

(7) Clause 94, page 88 (lines 15 to 17), omit the definition of eligible entity, substitute:

annual income, for an individual, a partnership, a trust or a body corporate, means the amount for the individual, partnership, trust or body corporate that is worked out in accordance with regulations made for the purposes of this definition.

eligible entity means an individual, a partnership, a trust or a body corporate (other than corporation to which paragraph 51(xx) of the Constitution applies) that has an annual income of less than $20 million.

(8) Clause 95, page 88 (after line 25), after subclause (1), insert:

(1A) In deciding which eligible grant recipient corporations (if any) to make a grant of financial assistance to under subsection (1), the Secretary must give priority to eligible grant recipient corporations that are not eligible corporations.

Note: For eligible corporation, see section 7.

(9) Clause 95, page 89 (before line 1), before the definition of eligible grant recipient corporation, insert:

annual income, for a corporation, means the amount for the corporation that is worked out in accordance with regulations made for the purposes of this definition.

(10) Clause 95, page 89 (line 4), omit paragraph (c) of the definition of eligible grant recipient corporation entity, substitute:

(c) that has an annual income less than $20 million.

(11) Clause 100, page 90 (line 25), omit "half", substitute "three-quarters".

(12) Clause 100, page 90 (line 27), omit "half", substitute "three-quarters".

(13) Clause 100, page 91 (line 3), omit "half", substitute "one-quarter".

I support the intent of these bills. Platforms that profit from Australian journalism should pay for it, and the previous code failed the moment the platforms realised they could simply walk away from the news. But, as drafted, this scheme will work for Australia's largest and publishers and leave small, independent and community media behind. My amendment addresses this.

The first group of amendments to this bill ensure that small publishers get a share of the deals. Under the scheme as drafted, a platform must strike a minimum of eight deals to discharge its obligations. Nothing in this bill requires any of those deals to be with a small publisher. Australia's largest media companies own dozens of outlets between them. One Western Australian player alone publishes 22 papers, so eight deals can be reached without a single independent publisher being party to any of them. We should not assume the market will correct for this. When one independent newspaper in my electorate had lawyers write to Meta and Google, the correspondence was ignored.

Amendments (1) to (13) to the payments bill provide that a service group cannot claim the offset unless at least 12.5 per cent of its qualifying expenditure for the year goes to news businesses with an annual income under $20 million. This is not a heavy impost on companies of this scale. Small and medium publishers account for around 16 per cent of market share, so 12.5 per cent is a reasonable requirement. It will, however, guarantee that the smallest publishers are part of the deal making rather than spectators to it. I commend this amendment to the House.

The government does not support the proposed amendments to the News Journalism Payments Bill 2026, moved by the member for Curtin. Many MPs have highlighted the important role that public interest journalism plays in a healthy democracy. It combats myths and disinformation, keeps local communities connected and supports social cohesion.

We strongly believe the bill strikes the right balance to support the sustainability of new publishers, including small and regional publishers; the continued provision of trusted public interest journalism; and the employment of journalists in Australia. Specifically for smaller and independent publishers, the bill includes that five per cent of any revenue raised by the NBI will be allocated for a separate grant program, with the focus on supporting small publishers and startups to build their businesses and produce news for their local communities. An additional uplift of 20 per cent will be applied to journalists that work in regional and remote areas for small to medium news organisations and those working in news organisations that cater to diverse communities. News businesses with low revenue will also be able to access funding to convert volunteer journalists into paid employees and to support editorial work conducted by employees with hybrid roles. For this reason, the government does not support the proposed amendments to the News Journalism Payments Bill move by the member for Curtin.

The question is that the amendments be agreed to.