As references are hard to find beneath the mountain of blather in the media this week, the two bills that set out the proposed scheme which allegedly poses threats to the very pillars of our democracy, and the second reading speech in each case (Hansard 14 March) are as follows. The main legitimate gripe is the government's handling of all this and the two week "take it or leave it" ultimatum. A Senate committee has a few days to examine. No ticks for the process in getting to this point (five years since the ALRC recommended some slight tweaks to the exemption from the Privacy Act) or managing it from here on.
News Media (Self-regulation) Bill 2013
Mr ALBANESE
(Grayndler—Leader of the House and Minister for Infrastructure and Transport) (09:26):
I move:
That this bill be now read a second time.
The News Media
(Self-regulation) Bill 2013 will strengthen and improve the
self-regulatory arrangements for significant providers of print and
online news and current affairs.
The bill addresses important
issues identified in the report of the Independent Inquiry into the
Media and Media Regulation, including the low levels of accountability
of, and lack of sufficient incentives for compliance with, the decisions
of the Australian Press Council.
In announcing the independent inquiry, the government made its commitment to an independent press clear.
A healthy and robust media is essential to the democratic process.
Labor believes it is
incumbent upon government to ensure that the regulatory processes and
industry structure are sufficiently strong to support the continuation
of a healthy and independent media.
As citizens in a democracy we
rely on the media to scrutinise the actions and decisions of those in
power, to hold business and political leaders to account and to reflect
and contribute to our national identity.
We therefore need media that
is independent and diverse, and capable of putting the public interest
above the interest of media owners, whether those owners are governments
or shareholders.
Under the existing
arrangements for print and online news publications, news media
organisations operate within a predominantly self-regulatory framework.
Within this framework, the
Australian Press Council is a self-regulatory body with principal
responsibility for handling complaints about Australian newspapers,
magazines, associated digital outlets and some online-only providers.
The Press Council is also responsible for developing, promoting and monitoring standards of good media practice.
The bill will significantly
strengthen current arrangements by providing incentives for news media
organisations to participate in self-regulation that promotes the
maintenance of standards relating to accuracy, fairness, privacy and
other matters relating to the professional conduct of journalism.
Additionally, the bill
promotes the availability of effective mechanisms to enable Australians
to make a complaint about a breach of the standards and to ensure
complaints will be handled quickly and inexpensively.
The bill will empower an
industry self-regulatory body to establish and have recognised, through a
transparent process that includes public consultation, a news media
self-regulation scheme.
The scheme will also
effectively and transparently promote print and online news media
organisations’ compliance with standards of practice and improve
accountability to the public.
Designated broadcasting
services will be exempt from the scheme, in recognition of the existing
regulatory schemes and co-regulatory arrangements provided for under the
Broadcasting Services Act.
A self-regulatory body may be
approved by a statutorily recognised officer—the Public Interest Media
Advocate—subject to the advocate having regard to certain matters.
These include whether the
standards formulated under the scheme effectively deal with privacy,
fairness, accuracy and other matters relating to the professional
conduct of journalism.
As well as the extent to which those standards reflect community standards.
The advocate will also have
regard to whether complaints can be made to the body free of charge, and
the extent to which decision making under the body is independent from
government and industry.
Importantly the bill also
requires the advocate, in considering whether to approve a body, to also
have regard to the need for freedom of expression, and the need to
protect individual privacy.
It is only by being a member
of a declared news media self-regulation body that a specified news
media organisation will have the benefit of the 'journalism' exemption
from obligations imposed under the Privacy Act.
The scheme that is established by this bill will be independent of government, and will be funded by industry.
This bill offers a simple and
effective way to strengthen and improve the self-regulatory framework
for significant providers of print and online news, free of government
interference and for the benefit of the Australian public.
I commend this bill to the House.
Debate adjourned.
News Media (Self-regulation) (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2013
Mr ALBANESE
(Grayndler—Leader of the House and Minister for Infrastructure and Transport) (09:31): I move:
That this bill be now read a second time.
The News Media
(Self-regulation) (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2013 will amend the
current exemption from the operation of the Privacy Act 1998 that exists
for certain acts and practices of media organisations that are publicly
committed to observing standards that deal with privacy.
Currently a media
organisation is exempt from the operation of the Privacy Act where its
activities consist of the collection, preparation and dissemination of
news, current affairs, information or documentaries, provided it is
committed to observing published, written standards that deal with
privacy.
This bill will improve the
accountability of news media organisations by requiring that, where it
is a significant provider of print and/or online news, it must be a
member of an approved, independent, industry self-regulatory body, as
set out under the News Media (Self-regulation) Bill, in order to have
the Privacy Act exemption available to it.
The bill will not affect other news media organisations' access to the existing exemption under the Privacy Act.
I commend this bill to the House.
Debate adjourned.
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