Half a million back Kevin Rudd's petition on media diversity
Half a million Australians have backed Kevin Rudd's call for parliament to instigate a royal commission into the diversity of media, aimed at concerns about the influence of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation.
The former Labor prime minister's petition was signed by 501,876 people, including one of his Liberal successors, Malcolm Turnbull. A current Labor frontbencher tabled the petition in Parliament but Labor's leaders insist they do not have a formal position on whether it should be supported.
Labor MP Andrew Leigh has tabled Kevin Rudd's petition, backed by more than 500,000 people, calling for a royal commission on media diversity.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
Upon presenting it to parliament, Labor frontbencher Andrew Leigh said the media was shrinking and extremely concentrated.
"There are now over 20 news 'deserts' around Australia. This weakens community and raises the risk of corruption going unchecked," he said.
"Diverse sources of reliable, accurate and independent news isn't a luxury – it's fundamental to a healthy democracy."
The petition calls for moves to ensure the strength and diversity of Australian media, including examining digital outlets and the dominance of News Corp. It also notes those who signed it are "deeply concerned" by other impacts on media diversity, including Nine Entertainment taking over The Age and Sydney Morning Herald.
It was the largest electronic petition since the online system started in 2016.
"This means that over half a million people on this petition alone have exercised their rights as citizens and residents of Australia engaging directly with the parliament. A great result for democracy," Nationals MP Ken O'Dowd, who chairs the petitions committee, said.
However, he also gave parliament examples of two larger petitions: one about community pharmacies from 2014 with 1.2 million signatures and another from 2000 about beer taxes supported by more than 792,000 people.
While Dr Leigh tabled the petition, Labor has not formally backed its call.
Deputy opposition leader Richard Marles said on Monday a royal commission "hasn't been a consideration" for the party.
Pushed on why not, he told the ABC: "This is not something we have been considering. This is something Kevin Rudd has been pursuing in his capacity as a private citizen."
Mr Rudd said last month Mr Murdoch was driven by a "triple aphrodisiac" of money, political power and far-right ideology.
He wants a royal commission to examine media models from other democracies to see which ones best maximise diversity.
"Monopoly is bad for democracy like it's bad for the economy," Mr Rudd told ABC's Insiders on Sunday.
Mr Turnbull said he wasn't usually a fan of royal commissions but he thought there was a profound problem with the way media operated at the moment.
"That crazy bitter partisanship of social media has taken over much of what we used to call the mainstream media," he told the ABC.
Katina Curtis is a political reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, based at Parliament House in Canberra.