The prime minister and two of his most senior ministers are staying silent a few reported assembly on Wednesday with Lachlan Murdoch at Information Corp’s Sydney workplaces.
Neither Anthony Albanese, Richard Marles nor Penny Wong was ready to even verify that they travelled to Murdoch (who’s at the moment suing Crikey) to satisfy with him and Information Corp executives, after Kishor Napier-Raman and David Estcourt reported the assembly this morning for 9 newspapers.
Nevertheless, the workplace of Communications Minister Michelle Rowland has confirmed she didn’t attend and says it supplied no enter for the assembly.
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What’s fascinating about Rowland’s non-attendance is that on the identical day, Rowland issued a assertion on AFL, which is in search of a brand new broadcasting deal, and the anti-siphoning scheme — a press release broadly interpreted as a shot throughout the bow of Foxtel. “I encourage the AFL Fee and its broadcast and streaming companions to make sure there is no such thing as a diminution within the availability of AFL matches on free-to-air tv underneath the brand new deal,” Rowland stated.
Anti-siphoning has been a long-running thorn within the aspect of Foxtel, the Murdochs and main sports activities, all rightly aggrieved that that free-to-air (FTA) tv oligopoly can use its government-mandated energy to dictate phrases in broadcasting rights negotiations. Lately, one thing approaching peace has damaged out on the problem as Foxtel and the FTAs shared video games, however streaming providers are actually creating a complete new marketplace for broadcast rights.
However the presence of Marles and Wong, somewhat than Rowland, suggests discussions have been at a extra elevated stage than who has the printed rights to AFL native derbies in Perth and Adelaide. Voters, nonetheless, apparently usually are not entitled to know why essentially the most highly effective politicians within the nation have been going to satisfy Murdoch.
It demonstrates but once more how Australia is a two-speed democracy: for almost all of us, politicians can solely be lobbied by means of emails, letters and cellphone calls to their workplaces. However highly effective folks and companies have an inside observe — they’ll foyer politicians instantly, usually utilizing political donations as a way of entry.
And for a privileged few — together with the Murdoch household — prime ministers will come to them and their minions personally.
Maybe the assembly was innocuous. The Labor leaders might have berated Murdoch and his executives for the appalling protection of Labor through the election marketing campaign. Maybe they may have informed the assembled Information Corp elite that their local weather denialism not had forex on this nation. Maybe they even need to diminish the poisonous energy of the Murdoch empire.
One way or the other, we expect not. However precisely what the aim of the assembly was will stay hidden from voters, who’re entitled to assume the worst.
A minimum of in NSW and Queensland, such conferences are required to be reported to the general public each quarter, together with the aim of the assembly, so voters have some visibility of who’s making an attempt to affect the politicians they pay for. No such luck on the Commonwealth stage, the place politicians imagine that nobody ought to know to whom they and their workers are speaking.
So we stay a two-speed democracy. Below Labor, there’s fairly a distinct group of pursuits in a position to wield affect over ministers in comparison with the Coalition. However some vested pursuits get entry irrespective of who’s in energy.
Crikey is information for readers who can deal with the reality.
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Peter Fray
Editor-in-chief
