The news media bargaining code is being debated in the Senate now. Labor indicating they haven't seen any amendments yet that might have been negotiated with Facebook.
Greens senataor Sarah Hanson-Young: We shouldn't be in a situation where two big billionaires. Mark Zuckerberg and Rupert Murdoch get to dictate what news Australians consume when they can consume it.
Calls for their respective companies to pay their fair share of tax in AU
There should be an *and between consume and when. Eyes glossed over when checking Otter transcript.
Here's the supplementary explanatory memorandum the govt has tabled with the legislation in the Senate. Not 100% sure how much of this is the amendments from the House bill or if new. parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/downl…
It will probably come as no surprise Concetta Fierravanti-Wells is using her speech on this legislation to complain about the deplatforming of Trump.
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Lambie: "Facebook is paying for someone else's use of the platform, oh dear."
She says the news media bargaining code is a "terrible idea", it is the biggest joke and she can't believe "even the Greens" have fallen for it.
Lambie says this code is a white flag on tackling tax avoidance.
"If you want Google and Facebook to fund public interest journalism then it is simple, it's really easy, it's called tax."
Lambie says the shareholders of News Corp and Nine will be happy about a fattened up dividend.
"How's that fair though.
We want more money for journalism - let's tax companies making heaps of money and put that money into supporting journalism, put it directly into journalism."
The news code forcing Google to pay news companies for links would give Google "no real choice but to stop making Google search available in Australia," Australian MD Mel Silva tells Senate committee.
"Withdrawing our services from Australia is the last thing that I want and Google want to have happen, especially when there is another way forward."
Rex Patrick: This whole code is not about, in any way, breaking the internet. It’s about breaking your revenue streams, it’s about breaking your bank account, that’s what this is about... it does not touch the the internet and the way in which it works."
Two days of this and no department seems to be able to say who was responsible for hiring security guards for hotel quarantine. They keep circling around the issue.
It seems to come back to a committee meeting made up of officials from several departments.
But it Jobs then had to go procure security once the decision was made.
Pakula says reports certain security firms were chosen for social inclusion goals are incorrect.
"The objective was security. It was not social inclusion."