STEPHEN JONES:
Good afternoon. Strong independent journalism and a diverse news industry is absolutely critical to democracy and free society. Now there’s no doubt that the emergence of digital platforms over the last few decades has brought many benefits. But it has also disrupted the business model of Australian news media funded by advertising revenue. It’s also no doubt that social media platforms have benefited from the content that is produced by news media businesses in Australia.
Let’s be clear. The Albanese government is committed to ensuring that we have a strong, viable, robust, independent news media sector and strong, robust, viable, independent journalism operating within that news media sector. And the initiative that Minister Rowland and myself are announcing today is all about achieving that objective.
The previous government legislated the News Media Bargaining Code, an effective tool to facilitate commercial agreements between news businesses and digital platforms. Today we announce measures to strengthen that code.
The News Bargaining Initiative will be a new addition to that code which will create a financial incentive for agreement making between digital platforms and news media businesses in Australia. The incentive will contain a charge on relevant platforms based on Australian sourced revenue. The charge will include a generous offset for the commercial agreements that are voluntarily entered into between the platforms and news media businesses. The platforms who will be in scope for the charge will be significant social media platforms and search engines with an Australian based revenue in excess of $250 million. The charge will commence from 1st January 2025.
Now of course, the government will be consulting over the next 2 months with industry on the fine details of the legislation and the policy design. We anticipate the charge will raise the same revenue or the same levels of revenue roughly in accordance with the agreements that have been struck since 2021.
The real objective, however, is not to raise revenue, we hope not to raise any revenue. The real objective is to incentivise agreement making between platforms and news media businesses in Australia. The offset arrangements that will be struck, will be struck at a level to ensure that businesses pay less under a levy arrangement. Pay less, sorry, I correct that. The offset arrangements will be struck at a level which ensure that digital platforms would pay less if they strike voluntary agreements with news media businesses than were they not to strike those agreements and subject themselves to the incentive charge. I’ll invite my colleague Minister Rowland to make any additional comments and then we can take questions.
MICHELLE ROWLAND:
Well, today’s announcement is about backing Australian journalism and supporting the health of our democracy. The news bargaining incentive is critical to ensuring that digital platforms contribute to the sustainability of journalism in Australia. A strong and diverse news sector is vital for our democracy and the rapid growth of digital platforms in recent years has disrupted Australia’s media landscape and it is threatening the viability of public interest journalism.
We know that many Australians use search and social media to access news and as a government, we want this to continue. In fact, the University of Canberra 2024 Digital News Report found that almost half of Australians use social media to access news. And that demonstrates just how much digital platforms have benefited from Australia’s production of quality news. Now, it is important that digital platforms play their part. They need to support access to quality journalism that informs and strengthens our democracy. By establishing the news bargaining incentive, the government is ensuring that large digital platforms are incentivised to either renew or enter into commercial deals to remunerate Australian news organisations.
Now, as you heard, the aim of the incentive is not to raise funds, but to encourage commercial deals. Right now, the code does not provide the right incentives for some platforms to do deals and we are working to get the incentive right and we need to get the parties back to the table to make that happen. The incentive is another important step that our government is taking to support media diversity and public interest journalism in Australia.
My message is clear. News publishers and digital platforms both have a role to play in serving the needs of citizens and consumers in our democracy in the 21st century. And the government is working through this announcement to incentivise commercial deals between digital platforms and news publishers to that end. The government will have further announcements in the near future outlining support for news media. I look forward to working with my most excellent colleague, Minister Jones, and other key stakeholders to progress this important initiative.
JONES:
Thanks, colleagues. Happy to take questions
JOURNALIST:
In your negotiations with big tech. What’s been their response to the proposal?
JONES:
Obviously, we’ve reached out and consulted with the digital platforms who we believe to be in scope, explained the government’s policy thinking and the reasoning behind it, and made it very clear that we want to see them continue to make a contribution to journalism in Australia. We think it’s their obligation.
JOURNALIST:
What did they say?
JONES:
Well, I’ll leave it to the digital platforms to speak for themselves. I’m not going to presume to talk for them.
JOURNALIST:
Have you spoken to any of them today?
JONES:
Myself and Minister Rowland have spoken to all of the relevant platforms over the last week.
JOURNALIST:
Minister, what happens if those platforms say no, that they don’t engage with this?
JONES:
Well, it wouldn’t be an economically rational decision to pay more under a charge than you would need to pay under a commercial agreement. And let’s not forget that there’s benefit to both sides in entering into commercial agreements and they’ll provide far more detail, far more each way exchange of value than you would find under a charge arrangement. And that’s why we’re encouraging, that’s why the government is encouraging voluntary agreement making. And this incentive bolsters up that.
JOURNALIST:
Some of these tech companies will see this as setting a precedent for potentially other jurisdictions overseas to set up their own agreements like this. So, perhaps it is economically disincentivised. But what happens if the tech companies choose to make that decision, not to engage with Australia, perhaps so that they can avoid setting a precedent in other countries? What happens then?
JONES:
Look, I’m not going to preempt what the platforms or any other business does as a result of this important policy announcement today. I just want to make it clear this is bolstering and strengthening the existing News Media Bargaining Code which has existed in Australia since 2021. It’s a strengthening and extension of that code and we would encourage all businesses to engage.
JOURNALIST:
Minister, we know that the platforms aren’t necessarily on board with these sort of systems. I mean, it’s pretty likely they’re not going to go out of their way to sign many deals if they can get away with having the same, I guess, quantum of funding in a global sense going out to the new industry, say to a small number of larger platforms, what guardrails, if any, are there in place to make sure or to incentivise those platforms to actually make deals with the large number of organisations, regional ones, smaller publishers, rather than just a small number of potentially bigger platforms? Doesn’t this run the risk of just further entrenching a lack of diversity if some of the smaller players might be crowded out?
JONES:
Thanks for the question. First observation I’d make is that Google is continuing to make agreements in Australia and they’ll be recognised under the news media incentive. So, I just want to make that point. Not every platform has exited the field. We think this strengthens the incentive for businesses to come back to the bargaining table in terms of the distributional aspects, if agreements aren’t made, or even if they are, that is a matter for the technical detail. We’ll commence negotiations over the next few months. But let’s be clear, you can’t acquit your offsets under this arrangement by doing one big deal with one outlet.
JOURNALIST:
How do you view Meta’s corporate behaviour with regards to its dealings with Australian media companies? And how does that compare to Google, which has recently renewed a deal with Country Press Australia?
JONES:
Look, I’ve expressed my views and Minister Rowland has expressed her views and the Prime Minister has expressed his views about the withdrawal from agreements in Australia. I hope this creates the opportunity to turn a new page and say the past is the past, we’ve got new arrangements, new incentives in place, let’s come back to the table and strike some deals, make some agreements.
JOURNALIST:
Minister you said that the program will cover services irrespective of whether they carry news. So, which platforms now would you cover?
JONES:
So, it is my anticipation, given what we have said today, that at least Alphabet, Google, ByteDance through TikTok and Meta through its various platforms would be in scope. When we set the threshold at $250 million, we’ve got a pretty good idea who are in. There may be some others who are in as well, but we’re pretty certain about those 3 based on what we know about their annual revenues. For very good reasons. I can’t go to the Tax Commissioner and say, ‘show me the annual tax returns of every social media platform in Australia’. Good tax secrecy laws, why that can’t occur.
But that’s a part of the consultation and discovery exercise that we’ll go through over the next few months. But the key design principles are as we’ve outlined today, there’ll be an incentive charge, fully offsetable and an incentive built into that offset to ensure that if you do deals you’ll pay less than under the charge. And there is nothing stopping businesses entering into these agreements right now. And I can guarantee that any agreement that are entered into right now will be offsetable against any charge that commences from the 1st of January next year.
JOURNALIST:
Just if we can go back, irrespective of whether they carry news, why should platforms which fit your criteria not carrying Australian news, why should they pay this?
JONES:
Can I put it in the other way round? We think there is a very good public policy reason why social media platforms should be contributing to news media content. I’ve outlined those because of the disruption effect and the need to have viable news media content in Australia. But secondly, we think some of the stuff that you guys produce should be on social media platforms to ensure that there is fact‑checked information available to people. That large number of Australians who go through a social media portal as their first way of entering the news media market in this country.
JOURNALIST:
Minister, will the government publicly disclose the charges that social media companies will be forced to pay or offset under the deal?
JONES:
All of those things will be subject to the details, but you know, that would be the normal course of events.
JOURNALIST:
Would you cover Elon Musk’s X platform on this?
JONES:
Based on the thresholds that we’ve set of $250 million of Australian source revenue, I’d be astounded if Twitter/X met that threshold. In fact, I’m certain that it wouldn’t.
JOURNALIST:
This charge will be imposed by the Tax Office and in all intents and purposes, based on what we know now, it seems to be acting as if any other tax. Why not call it a tax?
JONES:
It’s a charge and it’s designed in the way I described it earlier. The principal purpose for most taxes, not all of them, but for most taxes, is to raise revenue. But there are a few that we raise which are not about raising revenue. The Superannuation Guarantee Charge, for example, the Medicare Surcharge, for example. They’re not designed to raise revenue, they’re designed to drive behaviour. And the news media bargaining incentive is designed to incentivise behaviour.
JOURNALIST:
One for Minister Rowland, if I could. We’re talking about revenue for media companies today. Another major source of revenue for some media companies is gambling advertising. We’ve got this reform being announced today. The Prime Minister also announced a large sum of money for the NRL. Could I ask where the process is in terms of your response to the gambling reform calls? And would you hope that the various reforms we’ve seen today, including in this press conference, might go some way to assuaging the concerns of both media companies and sporting organisations?
ROWLAND:
Well, I’ll say 2 things there. Firstly, the government is providing assistance to media companies in various forms and has throughout this term. We currently have open a $15 million fund for rural and regional newspapers and as I said, we will be announcing more supports for the sector in the MYEFO context in the near future. But the second point is this. It is important that we get these policy settings right, not only as they impact on the media sector, but also as they impact on the health of our democracy. And it’s important that we get those wagering reforms right.But I would point out that this also adds to the substantial work that has already been undertaken by this government, more than any other government, in terms of addressing the harms that are caused by online wagering.
But we will continue to consult in order to get this right because we know that the risks are, for example, as has happened under the previous government, that it is possible that we see perverse results like an increase in wagering advertising, which we saw when the last set of changes were made. So, we’ll continue to work on a comprehensive response in this area. But today what we’re announcing is a decision that has been made by government. It will be subject, as is necessary, to consultation in terms of its implementation. But again, the policy intent here is very clear. It is to incentivise deals between digital platforms, search engines and Australian news publishers in order to support the health of our democracy.
JOURNALIST:
So, if a platform chooses not to take part in this new scheme, what are the potential charges that are open? And I know it’s a bit hypothetical, but can we get talking numbers here? It’s not billions, but millions, I presume tens of millions?
JONES:
It’ll be in the millions, not the billions. And it’ll depend on the platform whether they’ve done, whether they’ve acquitted the full amount of available offsets to them through the voluntary agreement making. But can I say it’s a hypothetical that I hope we don’t have to contemplate. The government doesn’t want to be in the distribution game in relation to this. We think it’s better for the health of independent journalism that we’re not. We think it’s better for the health of independent journalism if private agreements are reached between big grown‑up organisations in their best commercial interest.
JOURNALIST:
Sorry, Minister, I might have missed stepped out. But which companies are you expecting this to apply to? I just want a list.
JONES:
Yes. So, with a threshold of $250 million of Australian source revenue, that would include Google‑Alphabet, it would include ByteDance, better known as TikTok, and it would include the Meta platforms.
JOURNALIST:
Would it include X on formerly Twitter?
JONES:
I answered that earlier. No, I can’t see based on the publicly available revenue figures for Twitter here in Australia that it would come within a bull’s roar of that threshold.
JOURNALIST:
Despite not reaching TikTok’s thresholds there. We know that Elon Musk has been very active and vocal against the government on your policies on big tech. He’s not going to like this either. He’s a great friend with Donald Trump, first buddy, as we call him. Are you worried about the reaction Trump might have? Threats and tariffs?
JONES:
Look, of course we’ve had outreach with our colleagues in counterparties in the US and we want to ensure that they understand the reasoning. Also understand that this is not a tax in the normal sense of the word. This is an incentive to bolster up a law that has existed in Australia since 2021.
JOURNALIST:
What have your counterparts in the US said about this scheme for news when explained to them?
JONES:
These discussions have been handled by our officials in the US, but I’m aware that there’s been briefings and they’ve very much appreciated the advance notice of the announcement we’re making today.
JOURNALIST:
I’m not sure if it’s something that the government would be able to put regulations on, but in terms of the deals that might be struck with news organisations, would there be any, I guess, strings in terms of how that money would be used? Would it only be used for employing journalists? Public interest journalism, what would it be able to be allowed into profits and so forth?
JONES:
Look, my side of this deals with what’s an eligible offset. An eligible offset has to be driven toward the purpose that Michelle and I have been talking about. And that’s public interest newsmaking and journalism. And we do understand that as important as all of you guys are today, behind you, lies a team of people, whether they’re cameramen or technicians or sub editors or all the other production staff. But our objective is supporting journalism.
JOURNALIST:
The 2021 code was first mooted Google threatened to turn off the search function for Australia. Are you prepared for similar threats? Have you received them already? Do you have contingencies there?
JONES:
Look, you can believe me when I say the Australian Government will defend its sovereignty. And we would take very, very dimly, any decision by any platform to respond to this very reasonable, well thought through, deeply consulted initiative with any of those sorts of retributive actions.
JOURNALIST:
But I suppose the question is what can you actually do to prevent like Meta in past just threaten to ban Australian content if they’re forced to get into a deal? What can you actually do to stop that?
JONES:
Well, can I just say that would be a very non‑commercial response. And at the end of the day these are all businesses and we want people to act in a very commercial way here. To be honest, I just don’t want to contemplate. Have we thought about these things? Of course we have. Michelle and I have been playing 4‑dimensional chess on this for 12 months now, to work out all the different angles and what the right way, the most commercial way that we could deal with this issue and how we can do it in a way which best meets the public policy objective which is supporting independent journalism.
Let’s see this as an opportunity for us to start afresh with some of those companies that have withdrawn from the field and some other companies that haven’t been involved in the past. I think the public policy purpose stands up. The reason why I’ve arrived at this point of view stands up – it is building out the original code by strengthening it. And we want to ensure that all platforms involved and all news outlets can get on with doing deals and producing great journalism.
JOURNALIST:
Minister the platforms have a long history of taking fines for breaches of all sorts of stuff. European, like hundreds of millions from Europe, US and so forth. The penalty incentive here, why is it different that they’ll actually not see it as a cost of doing business?
JONES:
This measure will be administered by the Tax Office and it’ll have all of the enforcement powers that the Tax Office has available to it. These aren’t novel problems that the ATO and the Australian Government have to deal with international‑based businesses. We’re determined to defend our sovereignty and our right as a government to incentivise and defend the institutions in Australia which we think are critical to our democracy. And that’s a strong robust journalism and a strong robust news media sector. Thanks so much.