Greens want inquiry to consider Government power to force break-up of newspaper groups By Malcolm Farr
National Political Editor
Daily Telegraph July 21, 2011 3:58PM
THE Greens want Government powers to force the break-up of newspaper groups as well as the licensing of newspapers to be considered at a federal inquiry into the media.
Greens deputy leader Christine Milne today said the media convulsions in Britain around unacceptable privacy breaches meant it was "opportune" for an inquiry here.
"The important thing here is that out of the scandal in the UK there is an opportunity now for Australia to look at a number of issues," Senator Milne said.
"One is concentration of the media ownership for the print media in Australia.
Australian PM.Madame Gillard, Greens Senator Comrade Christine “Goebbels” Milne & Greens Leader Comrade Bob (The Godless Loon) Brown.
Not satisfied with taxpayer funded ABC, SBS (Multicultural),TV Radio, all commercial TV and Radio networks bar one (2GB) along with all newspaper’s, bar the Murdoch Press, the ACTU,Union, Get Up Funded, Labor /Green Loon/ “Independent” Minority Coalition Socialist Australian Government moves on the ONLY Free Press in the Nation, as it tries to divert attention from its collective 26% approval rating and TAX on life aka.CO2 Tax, attack the messenger those who don’t lie for them MUST be destroyed.
The stuff up in the UK is too good an opportunity for them, to not use, as a reason for Government control of the media, aka.Nationalization of the Media.
"Another is the privacy issues. Others relate to licensing and fit-and-proper person tests. All of those things should come out in an inquiry."
Prime Minister Julia Gillard is considering the Greens demands for a full inquiry, but far that might be limited to discussion of privacy recommendations made by the Law Reform Commission in 2008.
Senator Milne confirmed the Greens policy is for the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to be given the power to order the divestment of media groups "where those mergers fail a media-specific public interest test".
"Let's see what an inquiry has to say about what the broader community think about the divesting of assets and the breaking up of some of these companies and controls of separate parts of the media," she said.
"I think the time is opportune for a broad ranging inquiry and I for one don't have preconceived ideas about what that might look like.
"But I do think the Australian community is asking questions as a result of this scandal in the UK and they have a right to now think about what that media environment might look like into the future."
The Greens have already said an inquiry should look at why there is "no licensing or independent oversight of major newspapers" - a bid for newspaper licensing by the Government.
The Prime Minister today was asked by Opposition Leader Tony Abbott to "put up or shut up" after she yesterday said News Ltd Australia had "hard questions" to answer.
News Ltd, the publisher of news.com.au, is related to News International, which is at the centre of the British upheaval.
"There is no evidence whatsoever to any of the practices, the reprehensible practices, that we saw at one newspaper in England have any currency here in Australia," Mr Abbott said today.
"The Prime Minister must specify exactly what those questions are and if she can't specify exactly what those questions are, what she's doing is just smearing a perfectly good organisation.
"Frankly, it demeans our polity for this kind of thing to go on. I call on the Prime Minister to put up or shut up when it comes to those sorts of issues."
Today the Prime Minister said the questions were "very simple" following the British events.
"And consequently it's common sense that having seen the kind of reports we've seen from the United Kingdom Australians would be asking themselves, 'Could that happen here? What does this mean for us in Australia?'
"Very simple questions like that."
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