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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2017/sep/14/media-reforms-xenophon-google-facebook-investigation-politics-live
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| Google and Facebook to be investigated in exchange for media reforms – politics live | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| 12.47am BST | |
| 00:47 | |
| Marriage equality surveys have begun popping up in people’s mailboxes and the campaign has begun in earnest. | |
| Some are attempting to make light of it, with one wag, @dannolan repeating his joke from last month that he works for Australia Post and will destroy any ‘no’ ballots. | |
| Despite Australia Post confirming he is not an employee, not everyone has got the joke, with Nationals’ MP George Christensen weighing in this morning. | |
| I work at the australia post in chatswood and I'm using a torch to check all ballots and throw out ALL no votes pic.twitter.com/B0SNPXS5Yg | |
| does not work for Australia Post. Please remember tampering with mail is a federal offence. | |
| I suspect you may get a visit from the Aust Federal Police. We know the yes side will stoop to any low tactic to win but this is illegal! https://t.co/cWbyb2NrMv | |
| 12.40am BST | |
| 00:40 | |
| Communications minister Mitch Fifield won’t be able to relax until well into this afternoon, with the media reforms not due to return to the Senate until just before 1pm. | |
| In the meantime, it is committees and private senators’ business, with Jacqui Lambie introducing another attempt to ban the burqa. | |
| If Fifield can’t wrap up the debate before 2pm when question time starts, then the government will work to get the media reforms back on the afternoon agenda and stay until it is done and dusted. | |
| If you are so inclined, or just feel like injecting a little wild into your Thursday morning, you can find the order of business here. | |
| 12.34am BST | |
| 00:34 | |
| The bells have just rung, signalling the start of the day, and the Speaker, Tony Smith, has just given the go-ahead to table the Lionel Murphy documents. | |
| Speaker Smith has jus handed thousands of pages to the clerk, which means it is done. | |
| That sound you hear is dozens of journalists headed en masse to the tabling office. | |
| Updated | |
| at 12.36am BST | |
| 12.22am BST | |
| 00:22 | |
| The Coalition MP and former minister Stuart Robert is still refusing to answer questions over whether his businesses benefited from government contracts after he was elected. | |
| Latika Bourke of Fairfax Media has spoken to the Gold Coast MP’s father, who says he was unaware “was a director of a private investment company that held shares in his son’s IT service business, which has won tens of millions of dollars worth of government contracts”. | |
| Alan Robert, 80, has also told Fairfax Media that the private investment company, Robert International, was run by his son during the six-year period he and his wife, Dorothy, were the company’s only directors. It is a revelation that would link the Queensland MP with the IT services business, GMT Group, at a time when Stuart Robert claims to have “ceased involvement” in GMT. | |
| Section 44, which has seen seven MPs recently referred to the high court for dual citizenship, also prohibits MPs from either directly, or indirectly benefiting from the commonwealth. That clause saw Family First’s Bob Day lose his Senate spot and the high court is also examining whether David Gillespie has fallen foul of the section. | |
| Robert, who resigned as human services minister early last year after a review found he had breached ministerial standards, accused Bourke of “lying” about speaking to his father and refused to answer questions. | |
| Each election essentially resets section 44 so, even if a MP was found to have been in breach of the constitution when first elected, if the situation has been remedied before the last election, they are considered not to be in breach. | |
| Updated | |
| at 12.28am BST | |
| 12.07am BST | 12.07am BST |
| 00:07 | 00:07 |
| The leaders of the nation’s two major political parties are occasionally able to put the name-calling aside. Last night Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten managed a civil conversation at an event promoting the Northern Territory. | The leaders of the nation’s two major political parties are occasionally able to put the name-calling aside. Last night Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten managed a civil conversation at an event promoting the Northern Territory. |
| Updated | Updated |
| at 12.09am BST | at 12.09am BST |
| 11.58pm BST | 11.58pm BST |
| 23:58 | 23:58 |
| The Senate had a late night talking media reforms, with many speakers on the list. | The Senate had a late night talking media reforms, with many speakers on the list. |
| But it was One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts who appeared to capture imaginations of those following along at home, with his speech detailing where he had been wronged by the media and how that was to their peril. | But it was One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts who appeared to capture imaginations of those following along at home, with his speech detailing where he had been wronged by the media and how that was to their peril. |
| For those interested, here is Roberts’s views on why Australian media is in trouble. | For those interested, here is Roberts’s views on why Australian media is in trouble. |
| So is Murdoch the problem? No, he’s not, despite what some on the left say. What we see today is a swirl of coalescing media across platforms such as newspaper, radio, TV, internet and subscription channels. | So is Murdoch the problem? No, he’s not, despite what some on the left say. What we see today is a swirl of coalescing media across platforms such as newspaper, radio, TV, internet and subscription channels. |
| That change is underway no matter what we want and whether we like it or not, and it’s due to external factors, the internet and government. The weakness in media right now is due to three factors. | That change is underway no matter what we want and whether we like it or not, and it’s due to external factors, the internet and government. The weakness in media right now is due to three factors. |
| The first is the internet – specifically Google and Facebook. The second is government regulation– and that regulation, as in all regulation, reduces the quantity of the service or product, reduces the quality of media and raises the cost of media. These regulations weaken institutions. | The first is the internet – specifically Google and Facebook. The second is government regulation– and that regulation, as in all regulation, reduces the quantity of the service or product, reduces the quality of media and raises the cost of media. These regulations weaken institutions. |
| These regulations have created a monster. The third one is that monster: the ABC. Let’s go to Google and Facebook. They’re revolutionising media and communication, and the internet is placing the market power of choice in the hands of all people. | These regulations have created a monster. The third one is that monster: the ABC. Let’s go to Google and Facebook. They’re revolutionising media and communication, and the internet is placing the market power of choice in the hands of all people. |
| I listened to a commonwealth car driver a few months ago who worked in the Kimberley in the 1980s when, he told me, they had one ABC channel and one ABC radio channel. Now, he says happily, they have a huge range of media and entertainment from around the world. | I listened to a commonwealth car driver a few months ago who worked in the Kimberley in the 1980s when, he told me, they had one ABC channel and one ABC radio channel. Now, he says happily, they have a huge range of media and entertainment from around the world. |
| These choices are destroying conventional newspaper companies, especially the biased ones such as Fairfax and the Guardian, who are both collapsing as customers wake up to their poor service that reflects the papers’ bias and dishonesty. | These choices are destroying conventional newspaper companies, especially the biased ones such as Fairfax and the Guardian, who are both collapsing as customers wake up to their poor service that reflects the papers’ bias and dishonesty. |
| Updated | Updated |
| at 12.06am BST | at 12.06am BST |
| 11.44pm BST | 11.44pm BST |
| 23:44 | 23:44 |
| Richard Di Natale is not happy with the media reform deal and says it will only lead to a “further concentration of the Australian media market”. | Richard Di Natale is not happy with the media reform deal and says it will only lead to a “further concentration of the Australian media market”. |
| The Greens came back to the negotiating table with the government, out of concern for the future of the ABC’s funding and public interest journalism, but, in the end, Di Natale said it couldn’t support the package the government put forward. | The Greens came back to the negotiating table with the government, out of concern for the future of the ABC’s funding and public interest journalism, but, in the end, Di Natale said it couldn’t support the package the government put forward. |
| There is a huge concern here that as a result of the deal that has been done with One Nation and this is all part of the deal ... The deal has two components. One is inserting ‘fair and balanced’ into the ABC, for example – I mean, do we want the ABC to become Fox News? That is their slogan. This is really to indulge One Nation and the only way this was going to get across the line with One Nation, and with Senator Xenophon’s support, was with that attack on the ABC. The real concern here is One Nation wants to take the axe to the ABC, they don’t support having a strong and independent broadcaster and we have great concerns about that. | There is a huge concern here that as a result of the deal that has been done with One Nation and this is all part of the deal ... The deal has two components. One is inserting ‘fair and balanced’ into the ABC, for example – I mean, do we want the ABC to become Fox News? That is their slogan. This is really to indulge One Nation and the only way this was going to get across the line with One Nation, and with Senator Xenophon’s support, was with that attack on the ABC. The real concern here is One Nation wants to take the axe to the ABC, they don’t support having a strong and independent broadcaster and we have great concerns about that. |
| Nick Xenophon has said he will not support any cuts to the ABC and the government has decoupled most of One Nation’s demands into separate legislation. That legislation does not appear to have the numbers. | Nick Xenophon has said he will not support any cuts to the ABC and the government has decoupled most of One Nation’s demands into separate legislation. That legislation does not appear to have the numbers. |
| But remember Cory Bernardi is planning on amending the legislation to include One Nation’s demands as part of the media reform package, which puts the government into the awkward position of voting against what they have agreed to put forward in order to get Pauline Hanson’s support. | But remember Cory Bernardi is planning on amending the legislation to include One Nation’s demands as part of the media reform package, which puts the government into the awkward position of voting against what they have agreed to put forward in order to get Pauline Hanson’s support. |
| Updated | Updated |
| at 12.08am BST | at 12.08am BST |
| 11.24pm BST | 11.24pm BST |
| 23:24 | 23:24 |
| The social services minister, Christian Porter, has been out spruiking the government’s planned changes to its ‘no jab, no pay’ policy, which sees family benefit supplements withheld if a child’s vaccination schedule is not kept up to date. | The social services minister, Christian Porter, has been out spruiking the government’s planned changes to its ‘no jab, no pay’ policy, which sees family benefit supplements withheld if a child’s vaccination schedule is not kept up to date. |
| Speaking to ABC TV this morning, Porter said the government had seen “very good success” with the measure, in terms of increasing immunisation rates, but wanted to tweak it slightly. | Speaking to ABC TV this morning, Porter said the government had seen “very good success” with the measure, in terms of increasing immunisation rates, but wanted to tweak it slightly. |
| What we’re doing is moving to a system where the no pay component is brought forward so that a family that doesn’t do the right thing and fails to have a child vaccinated could stand to lose $28 a fortnight rather than this withholding of a supplement right at the end of the year. We think that that immediacy provides a fortnightly incentive and reminder which will even further lift up vaccination rates. We had a great success so far. | What we’re doing is moving to a system where the no pay component is brought forward so that a family that doesn’t do the right thing and fails to have a child vaccinated could stand to lose $28 a fortnight rather than this withholding of a supplement right at the end of the year. We think that that immediacy provides a fortnightly incentive and reminder which will even further lift up vaccination rates. We had a great success so far. |
| Updated | Updated |
| at 11.44pm BST | at 11.44pm BST |
| 11.16pm BST | 11.16pm BST |
| 23:16 | 23:16 |
| Good morning and welcome to Politics Live | Good morning and welcome to Politics Live |
| We have almost made it through the week, which has been one of the scrappiest we have seen in some time. | We have almost made it through the week, which has been one of the scrappiest we have seen in some time. |
| The government is chalking up an (almost) victory, with the communications minister, Mitch Fifield, able to secure a deal on the media reforms the Coalition has been working on since it took office in 2013. | The government is chalking up an (almost) victory, with the communications minister, Mitch Fifield, able to secure a deal on the media reforms the Coalition has been working on since it took office in 2013. |
| Katharine Murphy reports the core of the government’s proposal involves scrapping the two-out-of-three media ownership rule, which will most likely set off a flurry of mergers in the Australian media scene, and removing the 75% reach rule, allowing TV networks access to regional markets. | Katharine Murphy reports the core of the government’s proposal involves scrapping the two-out-of-three media ownership rule, which will most likely set off a flurry of mergers in the Australian media scene, and removing the 75% reach rule, allowing TV networks access to regional markets. |
| In exchange the government has agreed to provide a new $60m innovation fund for independent and regional publishers, providing they are Australian operations, without foreign media company connections, and funding for regional journalists. | In exchange the government has agreed to provide a new $60m innovation fund for independent and regional publishers, providing they are Australian operations, without foreign media company connections, and funding for regional journalists. |
| The government has also agreed to ask the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to conduct an inquiry into the internet giants Google and Facebook. | The government has also agreed to ask the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to conduct an inquiry into the internet giants Google and Facebook. |
| You’ll find more background on how the deal was struck here. | You’ll find more background on how the deal was struck here. |
| Energy is once again a buzzword for the day, with the Australian Energy Market Operator to appear at a public hearing with the house environment and energy committee later this morning. We’ll bring you updates on that as it happens. | Energy is once again a buzzword for the day, with the Australian Energy Market Operator to appear at a public hearing with the house environment and energy committee later this morning. We’ll bring you updates on that as it happens. |
| The Lionel Murphy documents, after a slight delay, are also about to be made public. Those papers, which involve an inquiry the Hawke government launched, and then closed, two weeks before the former high court judge’s death, should be tabled just after 9.30am. | The Lionel Murphy documents, after a slight delay, are also about to be made public. Those papers, which involve an inquiry the Hawke government launched, and then closed, two weeks before the former high court judge’s death, should be tabled just after 9.30am. |
| For a backgrounder – and explanation on why so many people are interested – head here. | For a backgrounder – and explanation on why so many people are interested – head here. |
| And the employment minister, Michaelia Cash, can expect more questions over former ABCC boss Nigel Hadgkiss, who resigned on Wednesday after admitting he had breached the Fair Work Act. | And the employment minister, Michaelia Cash, can expect more questions over former ABCC boss Nigel Hadgkiss, who resigned on Wednesday after admitting he had breached the Fair Work Act. |
| Cash admitted during Senate question time she had been aware of the allegations against Hadgkiss since October 2016. Overnight, Guardian Australia revealed the government will be picking up the tab for Hadgkiss’s legal fees. So expect to hear more on that. | Cash admitted during Senate question time she had been aware of the allegations against Hadgkiss since October 2016. Overnight, Guardian Australia revealed the government will be picking up the tab for Hadgkiss’s legal fees. So expect to hear more on that. |
| Mike Bowers is already out and about prowling the hallways - you can reach him at @mpbowers or Instagram to see what he’s up to- and you can reach me in the comments (I am reading them, I promise) or more directly on Twitter @amyremeikis | Mike Bowers is already out and about prowling the hallways - you can reach him at @mpbowers or Instagram to see what he’s up to- and you can reach me in the comments (I am reading them, I promise) or more directly on Twitter @amyremeikis |
| Let’s get going. | Let’s get going. |
| Updated | Updated |
| at 11.51pm BST | at 11.51pm BST |