Subjects: Albanese Government’s lack of action on supporting Australian news media, supermarket price hikes under Labor
E&OE…
PETER STEFANOVIC: Well first it was Big Pharma, now it’s America’s Big Tech urging President Donald Trump to target Australia over its federal laws on social media and the digital economy. Joining us live this morning is the Shadow Foreign Minister, David Coleman. David, good to see you. So with your former Communications hat on now, how concerned are you about this approach by Big Tech to basically kick us to the curb?
DAVID COLEMAN: Well Big Tech doesn’t get to decide what Australia does, we do.
That’s why we put the Media Bargaining Code in when we were in Government under the Coalition. It resulted in appropriate payments to Australian media for their intellectual property and that was the right thing to do. Then what happened, back in March, more than a year ago Pete, Meta said they’re going to stop paying. So the Government then had to address that. We are now in March 2025, more than a year later. What has the Government done? Literally zero. They’ve put out a press release. That’s it. So we are now in this situation where these US tech companies are raising this issue as some sort of bargaining chip, when the issue should have been resolved months and months ago. So the tech companies, they’ll say what they’ll say, and frankly it’s not up to them to decide what Australia’s policy should be, but you do need a competent government to deal with these issues, and our government, the Labor Government, has done nothing for more than a year, and there’s a real world consequence of that.
PETER STEFANOVIC: Well, I mean, as we know, the leaders of these companies, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, they are firmly in the President’s orbit. So, aren’t we powerless against that anyway?
DAVID COLEMAN: No, not at all. We decide what the laws of Australia are, Pete. We are a sovereign nation. Mark Zuckerberg can say whatever he wants. Frankly, who cares? What matters is the law of Australia. And that’s why the Coalition took strong action. News media should be paid for its intellectual property. It should be paid for the fact that it employs journalists doing real journalism. That’s what we did. Labor has known for more than a year. It’s a very important, Pete, I mean, competence matters in government.
PETER STEFANOVIC: I just want to ask you about this point, though, and again this is from the Computer and Communications Industry Association, again cited by The Age, where it is accusing Australia of hurting American streaming media platforms by making them pay for local content such as Australian television productions, putting their revenue at risk. Is that true, as far as you’re aware?
DAVID COLEMAN: We have various rules in place about local content. The Government actually announced prior to the election that it was going to put in place quotas on streaming companies in Australia, which they haven’t actually done yet. But bottom line is these decisions are sovereign matters for Australia. But you need a government with the horsepower to actually put in place policy, not just put out random press releases and frankly go around in circles, and that’s what this Government has done on these kind of issues.
PETER STEFANOVIC: Let’s switch topics, David. On the ACCC report, it’s found our supermarkets are some of the most profitable in the world but no evidence of price gouging. What’s the Liberal response to that today?
DAVID COLEMAN: Yeah, we’ll look through the report in detail. But one of the things that highlights, Pete, obviously, is rising prices at the supermarket checkout. We’ve seen huge price rises in the last few years. And, you know, every time you go to the scanner, every time you hear that beep at the supermarket, it’s a reminder of the failure of leadership of Anthony Albanese. You know, grocery prices up 13% in just three years. And the Government’s response, Pete, $3 million for an education campaign over three years. That is manifestly inadequate on such a serious issue because this goes to the cost of living of Australians and people are getting smashed at the checkout and this Government has a lot to answer for.
PETER STEFANOVIC: Well, I mean, aside from the Government, though, according to the report, it basically says those price rises are not out of line when compared to supermarkets around the world.
DAVID COLEMAN: Well it does highlight very high margins that the supermarkets have, relative to other supermarkets around the world.
PETER STEFANOVIC: But what else can the Government do about that, if it’s basically on track with supermarkets around the world?
DAVID COLEMAN: Well, no, the margins of the supermarkets here are much higher than supermarkets around the world. But strong action should be taken. And one of the things that should be on the table is divestiture powers. Our peers, the US, UK, have had divestiture powers for decades.
PETER STEFANOVIC: Divestiture powers, even still, you want to break them up even still after this?
DAVID COLEMAN: Yeah well it absolutely should be on the table as an option because we’ve got to lean forward and take strong action to protect Australian consumers. What we don’t want is a repeat of the last three years of these massive price increases. You know, you show up to the checkout and it’s a terrible experience every time. And we don’t want that sort of price rises to continue. It’s unacceptable. And divestiture powers should be on the table as an option, and certainly $2.9 million for an education campaign, which is what Jim Chalmers is going to do, is completely inadequate to such a massive issue of such substantial price increases that Australians are facing every day.
PETER STEFANOVIC: Okay, and on that point, Jim Chalmers is coming up in about 25 minutes, folks. David, good to see you. Thanks. We’ll chat again next week.
The Hon. David Coleman MP
Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs
Federal Member for Banks