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The media industry is waiting for a long-anticipated discussion paper on the News Media Bargaining Incentive.
Executives are concerned that, despite the announcement of the News Bargaining Incentive (NBI) in December, the government is dragging its feet on enforcing measures to make big tech companies pay for news content.
Seven West Media CEO Jeff Howard, releasing the company's results for the year to June, said there is still no clear timeline for paper's release.
“We are still waiting for the discussion paper… the government’s still working through that,” he told analysts in a briefing.
“Hopefully that will be out fairly shortly, and then there’ll be a period of time for everyone to provide feedback before it gets to the legislation stage.”
Howard said he’s confident the government is still committed to the bargaining Incentive and confirmed that talks are ongoing.
However, whether the policy will extend to areas like AI is uncertain.
“We’ll continue to work constructively with those guys on that,” he said.
“Whether it extends to AI or not, we’ll have to wait and see what the discussion paper says.”
AdNews contacted the communications minister for comment but did not receive a response by the time of publication.
The government has not confirmed what stage the discussion paper is currently at.
The News Media Bargaining Code was introduced by the Morrison government in 2021 to address the power imbalance between platforms and publishers.
Meta had been paying Australian publishers more than $200 million a year for their content, but announced last year it would not renew its deals.
Google also had agreements with more than 80 Australian news companies.
The federal government is attempting to force digital platforms to the negotiating table with media owners.
The Bargaining Incentive was announced last year to compel Google, Meta and other platforms to enter into or renew commercial deals with news publishers.
Attorney-general Michelle Rowland said the government is committed to a “diverse” and “sustainable” news media sector.
“Large digital platforms have an important role to play in providing access to news for all Australians, and contributing to the sustainability of public interest journalism,” she said.
“The News Bargaining Incentive is an important step towards securing support for Australia’s news media.”
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