Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Bob Brown for his question. Like you, Senator Brown, I am indeed surprised that those opp­osite are so out of touch with public opinion on this issue. Perhaps they should simply keep reading the Australian each morning.

The government believes it is necessary to support the independence and integrity of the media in the face of technological change and that the public have a right to have trust in our media. As I said earlier today when announcing the inquiry, a healthy and robust media is essential to the democratic process. Labor believes it is incumbent upon govern­ment to ensure that regulatory processes and industry structures are sufficiently strong to support the continuation of a healthy and independent media that is able to fulfil its essential democratic purpose and to operate in the public interest. I made this very clear a little over an hour ago, but let me repeat it for those whom seem to have missed it. The government is not interested in attacking any one media organisation or in seeking to reduce the necessary scrutiny of the political process that is at the heart of a functioning—