News Media Bargaining Charge for Specified Entities
News Media Bargaining Charge Bill 2026
House of Representatives
Senate
Assent
Introduced by: The Hon Dr Daniel Mulino MP (ALP)
Links to official parliament websites
Effects of this bill
If this bill passes, it means that:
The Debate
What different members said when this bill was debated:
Anika Wells ALP
“I move: That this bill be now read a second time. Introduction Journalism matters. It matters to our democracy, to the health and cohesion of our communities, and to Australians who rely on trusted reporting to understand what is happening locally, nationally and around the world. But quality journalism does not happen on its own.”
Dr Daniel Mulino ALP
“I move: That this bill be now read a second time. The News Media Bargaining (Administration) Bill 2026 forms part of the government’s commitment to support a strong, sustainable and diverse Australian news media sector. At its core, this bill is about a simple proposition: if large digital platforms benefit from Australian news, they should make a fair contribution to sustaining it.”
Melissa McIntosh LIB
“I rise to speak on the News Journalism Payments Bill 2026. The coalition supports a strong, sustainable and independent Australian news media sector. Quality journalism is one of the foundations of our democracy. It informs public debate. It holds governments and institutions to account. It gives voice to communities that might otherwise go unheard.”
Basem Abdo ALP
“I rise to make a contribution to the news bargaining incentive bills before the House. I often speak in this place about the importance of backing Aussie made, often in the context of Australian industry and manufacturing, as many of us do on this side of the House. But this principle that we hold isn’t limited to just physical goods and components.”
Carol Berry ALP
“By introducing the News Journalism Payments Bill 2026 and related bills, the Albanese Labor government is supporting local journalism and standing up for some key pillars of Australian values and society. We are protecting the news that matters, we are protecting Australian jobs, we are promoting fairness and we are supporting a healthy democracy.”
Anne Webster NAT
“At its heart, this debate is not about tax settings, offsets or administrative frameworks; it’s about whether Australia continues to have a diverse, independent and sustainable media landscape. A healthy democracy requires informed citizens, vigorous public debate and journalists who are willing to ask difficult questions.”
Kate Thwaites ALP
“A strong democracy depends on a strong and independent media. It depends on journalists who investigate, scrutinise and ask difficult questions. It depends on Australians having access to reliable information about their communities, their governments and the world around them.”
Dr RYAN
“The News Journalism Payments Bill 2026 and related bills come at an important moment for the future of public-interest journalism in Australia. At a time of misinformation, disinformation and declining trust in institutions, robust public-interest reporting is more important than ever before.”
Tom French ALP
“I rise to support the News Journalism Payments Bill 2026 and the associated bills. Politicians and journalists have a curious relationship. As a relatively new backbencher from Western Australia, I cannot claim to spend my days surrounded by the press gallery, but I certainly read what journalists write and say about politics, and I suspect they occasionally notice what people like me say and do.”
Kate Chaney IND
“I rise to speak on the News Journalism Payments Bill 2026 and the news media bargaining bills. In 1977—in the front room of a terrace house in Subiaco, Western Australia—Bret Christian and his wife Bettye started a newspaper.”
Jo Briskey ALP
“Across my community there are residents who have lived in the same suburb for 20, 40 and some even 60 years, and in that time they have watched the media landscape drastically change around them. Their local paper—which, for many, was the Moonee Valley Leader—got thinner, and over time it’s been absorbed by the Herald Sun. This experience is not unique to my community.”
Sophie Scamps IND
“I rise to speak on the News Journalism Payments Bill 2026 and related bills. This package of bills introduces the news bargaining incentive, the NBI, to support the sustainability and diversity of the Australian news sector by reinforcing the news media bargaining code. The bill aims to incentivise commercial agreements between digital platforms and Australian news businesses.”
Renee Coffey ALP
“At their core, the News Journalism Payments Bill 2026 and related bills ask a simple question: who pays for the work of journalism? Australian reporters find the stories, editors test every claim and photographers and videographers capture the evidence. Producers turn hours of interviews into clear accounts that people can trust.”
“There wouldn’t be a parliamentarian who loves newspapers more than I do.”
Ash Ambihaipahar ALP
“I used to roll my eyes when people older than me would say, simply: ’Delete the internet.’ They would argue that social media plays on our short attention span, our desire for entertainment over information and, too often, our pettiness over our commitment to truth, accountability and public interest. At the time, I did not really want to hear it. I’m a millennial.”
Mary Aldred LIB
“As regional Australians, we know that you should never have the misfortune of mistaking courtesy for weakness, and that is the approach that many regional newspapers take. I want to read a quote that sits above the editor’s desk at the Warragul and Drouin Gazette. It’s been there for about 127 years, since Albert Harvey was the editor.”
David Moncrieff ALP
“Public interest journalism is an essential pillar of our vigorous Australian democracy. The fourth estate has been at the heart of some of the most pivotal moments in our nation’s history, witnessing events as they play out and reporting back to us at home. It is impossible to separate the story of our nation from the journalists who recorded it.”
Ged Kearney ALP
“For the information of honourable members, I present a correction to the explanatory memorandum to the News Journalism Payments Bill 2026.”
Steve Georganas ALP
“It gives me great pleasure to be standing here in support of the News Journalism Payments Bill 2026, because a strong democracy depends on a strong, independent and sustainable news media. It depends on Australians having access to trusted information, quality public interest journalism and local reporting that keeps communities informed, governments accountable and democratic debate healthy.”
Murray Watt ALP
“I table a revised explanatory memorandum relating to three of the bills and I move: That these bills be now read a second time. I seek leave to have the second reading speeches incorporated in Hansard. Leave granted. The speech es read as follows— NEWS JOURNALISM PAYMENTS BILL 2026 Introduction Journalism matters.”
Sarah Henderson LIB
“It’s my pleasure to rise and speak on the news media bargaining incentive package of bills. I start by saying that the coalition supports a strong, sustainable and independent Australian news media sector. Quality journalism, Australian journalism, journalists telling Australian stories—that is one of the foundations of our democracy. It informs public debate.”
Charlotte Walker ALP
“I think most Australians can agree that having good journalists around is very useful. They sit through council meetings most of us would struggle to get through. They spend days digging through documents. They turn up to court. They talk to people, check claims and work out what’s happening. They come into this building and ask politicians questions that we may or may not be thrilled to answer.”
“I rise to contribute to this debate today. I understand that this legislation will pass this morning. I think we need to be really clear about the state of media not just in Australia but around the world. Things have changed rapidly in the last few years.”
Kerrynne Liddle LIB
“The coalition is proud to support a strong, sustainable and independent Australian news media sector. It’s important that a strong, independent, sustainable media holds government and institutions to account, gives communities voice and gives access to accurate and diverse sources of information. That’s especially important in regional communities. Media has been under attack for years.”
Tammy Tyrrell ALP
“Journalism is an essential pillar of Australian democracy, helping to strengthen social cohesion and uphold democratic accountability. But quality journalism is costly to produce. While the commercial revenue that has traditionally supported news production has declined, digital advertising has shifted to a small number of global platforms like Facebook and Google.”
Alex Antic LIB
“I rise to speak against the News Media Bargaining Charge Bill and the consequential amendments. This is not the first time. We’ve been here before. In 2021, the news media bargaining code promised to rebalance the relationship between platforms and publishers and that it would sustain journalism across the country. What actually happened?”
Josh Dolega ALP
“Every day, Australian journalists do the hard work of finding facts, testing claims and telling the stories that matter. Reporters knock on doors, sit through council meetings, attend court hearings and spend weeks or months investigating issues that impact our local communities.”