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

I thank Senator Milne for her question. As I mentioned yesterday in answer to a question from one of her colleagues, we put the Convergence Review in place nearly two years ago. We recognised that changes were going to come sweeping through the media sector because of the internet—something those on the other side have not yet discovered, as Senator Brandis proved the other day. We are considering the recommendations that came from former Justice Finkelstein's report—again, something we put in place—which included a reference about low-cost but high-quality journalism. We have put in place a number of inquiries to get ourselves the best possible advice and the best possible evidence to make some sensible, coherent decisions. The cabinet is considering those.

I have long been on the public record as advocating a public interest test, which is one of the recommendations that have been made. We are considering that at the moment and I suspect that we will have some news in the not too distant future about a range of these recommendations. But we are not going to respond to individual share market movements; we are not going to respond to somebody setting up a 100 per cent digital newspaper, as Mr Wood recently did, any more than we are to Ms Rinehart, who is legally entitled to buy shares. We have also been very clear on the question of whether or not Ms Rinehart should agree to the editorial independence charter. It is a brand-trashing decision that Ms Rinehart may be making. (Time expired)