CANBERRA – The Australian federal government is moving forward with a revised set of rules aimed at compelling global tech and social media giants to compensate local news publishers for their journalistic content, bringing the long-awaited News Bargaining Incentive and accompanying News Journalism Payments Bill to parliament on Thursday. The legislation marks the final step in a months-long consultation and amendment process that has split the government and leading Australian media industry figures, who warn the changes weaken the core purpose of the original policy.
First drafted in April, the bill has undergone multiple rounds of revision following negotiations between Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s Labor government and opposition leader Angus Taylor. The final version, tabled on the closing day of Canberra’s first spring sitting week, includes several key shifts from earlier proposals. Most notably, the maximum tax penalty for platforms that refuse to strike voluntary deals with local media outlets has been lifted from 2.25% to 2.5% – but the penalty will now only apply to Australia-attributed digital advertising revenue, rather than a company’s total domestic revenue. Industry analysts say this change effectively reduces the total potential financial penalty for non-compliant platforms.
Other adjustments include a steady increase in the minimum number of deals a tech company must sign to clear its legal liability: up from four in the April draft to six in an August iteration, and now to eight in the final bill. The government has also reinstated a 25% cap on the total levy that can be allocated to any single media outlet, a change the government says will ensure fairer distribution of funds to outlets of all sizes. Additionally, 5% of all revenue raised through the incentive scheme will be earmarked for Australian Associated Press, the country’s national newswire.
Communications Minister Anika Wells defended the revisions, framing them as a targeted adjustment to better serve underrepresented outlets in the Australian media ecosystem. “Australians access news in different ways, from different sources,” she said. “Which is why we made changes to the distribution scheme to better support smaller and diverse media organisations.”
Assistant Treasurer Daniel Mulino added that the policy’s core goal remains strengthening Australia’s entire media sector, from large national publishers to small community outlets, recognizing the critical role independent journalism plays in Australian communities. “We also want to ensure the media sector is strengthened from large companies to small ones, recognising the significant benefits strong journalism brings to communities across the nation,” he said.
But leading media industry executives have pushed back hard against the changes, arguing that the revisions water down the scheme’s ability to force large tech platforms to negotiate fairly, effectively gutting the incentive for platforms to strike deals at a time when regulation needs to be tightened, not relaxed.
Michael Miller, executive chairman of News Corp Australasia, one of Australia’s largest media groups, warned that the changes undermine the core purpose of the legislation. “On an already uneven playing field, getting this wrong won’t just hurt Australian media. It will erode the quality and independence of news every Australian relies on,” he said. “Tech giants cannot keep dodging their obligations. Australia deserves full revenue transparency, backed by severe, non-negotiable penalties for any platform that flouts local law.”
Matt Stanton, chief executive of Nine Entertainment, another major Australian media company, echoed those concerns, noting that foreign tech giants already exert massive influence over how Australian audiences access news content. “Independent journalism plays a fundamental role in democracy, holding governments, institutions and businesses to account. In this rapidly changing world this is more important than ever,” he said. “These significant changes, made late in this process, require closer scrutiny to ensure it continues to meet its fundamental purpose: compelling these platforms to negotiate fairly for the journalism they benefit from.”