Deborah O'Neill (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Two hundred cadetships for local newspapers, supposedly in regional areas, where papers are dying. There are 4,000 journalism students in Australia already. We don't need more cadetships; we need more jobs. Once we cut diversity, one owner can say, 'Well, you can put your message out on radio and TV and print, and you can just spread it a little bit further.' It doesn't mean it will grow any jobs, and it doesn't mean we will get an increase in diversity.

We know that letting the two-out-of-three rule go is a big deal. This government has had plenty of opportunities. Months and months ago, they could have had this legislation through—all of it, except for the two-out-of-three rule—but they wouldn't give. You have to wonder who has been in their ear to get them to a point where they are absolutely ready to sell the diversity of our media in this country down the river.

It is not just the government; it's also the One Nation party and the NXT party. They're in cahoots with this. Once this is gone, we won't be able to get it back, and that is the reality. When people vote for a government, they set a direction, and once they set the direction and undertake legislation like that, there are things we lose. And today we have to be clear: we are losing something. Two little numerical changes in the legislation from Senator Xenophon with his amendment is not going to do anything to protect us from that.

We keep hearing the Turnbull government say that this rule is out of date. But let's just look to a very recent event that just shows how vital it continues to be. We were told just before we broke, prior to the last session, that Channel Ten was in all sorts of problems and that there was no way it was going to survive. Receivership was being considered, and the pressure was on here. People were walking the corridors telling us we had to pass the legislation then. But there were enough people with enough integrity to hold out and protect this two-out-of-three rule, and instead they have caved now. Recently, we have seen that the CBS effort to acquire the Ten Network is proof that the two-out-of-three rule is a vital safeguard that continues to do the heavy lifting in maintaining diversity of the media in Australia.

For the government to argue that it's out of date, even in the context of this absolutely prominent recent event, continues to show that this is an ideological commitment to just getting rid of diversity. CBS are in the midst of wanting to purchase Channel Ten, and that provides diversity. We needed to keep this rule. So, my question is: how does this amendment in any way protect the Australian people in the way the two-out-of-three rule does?