What next for Kevin Rudd’s Murdoch royal commission push?

It has been almost two years since Kevin Rudd uploaded a video to his social media channels calling Rupert Murdoch an “arrogant cancer on our democracy” and invited Australians to sign his petition for a royal commission into media diversity.

It gathered half a million signatures, including that of former Liberal prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, and triggered a year-long Senate committee inquiry that concentrated its focus on the influence of Murdoch’s News Corp empire.

Former prime minister Kevin Rudd holds up the Daily Telegraph during his address to the National Press Club of Australia in March 2021, where he railed against the power of News Corp.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Controversially, the committee delivered on Rudd’s call in November, with Labor senators teaming up with the Greens to recommend the government initiate a judicial inquiry with “the powers of a royal commission” to investigate media concentration.

But Labor’s senior ranks moved almost immediately to snuff out any momentum. First in opposition and then in government, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Communications Minister Michelle Rowland made it clear they had no interest in taking up the cause, repeatedly ruling out a royal commission into the Murdoch press or the Australian media landscape more broadly.

This obvious brick wall has not deterred Rudd, nor the organisation he chairs, Australians for a Murdoch Royal Commission (AFMRC), which was set up last year to continue the lobbying efforts.

The former Labor leader has set a longer-term goal of convincing party members to back the issue at the ALP’s next national conference, which is held every three years to help shape Labor’s platform for the federal election.

“The next big step in this process is for the next National Conference to consider the question of media diversity, concentration of media power and a royal commission,” he said in a statement.

“Politicians can’t resolve this market failure on their own, because they are simply too vulnerable to Murdoch’s power. Until we have a fully empowered royal commission to break the cycle of policy failure, the media industry will continue to shrink, journalists will continue to lose their jobs, and our democracy will be more vulnerable to misinformation.”

News Corp did not respond to a request for comment.

AFMRC national director Kirsti Gorringe said the campaign was “still very much alive”, and while the prime minister’s point-blank rejection was “disheartening”, it had strengthened their resolve.

“We’ve seen this in the past many times. For example, with the Coalition on net zero, or the banking royal commission. Time and time again, governments will often say no to something until we can prove that there’s a reason that they’ve got to do it and show that there is public support for that to happen,” Gorringe said.

She said the organisation’s next steps would involve lobbying MPs directly, with a particular focus on the independent MPs who ousted Liberal MPs despite a barrage of negative media coverage.

“We’re obviously excited about the crossbench. They’ve got a focus on integrity and that extends to how the media monology distorts democracy. We hope to receive a warm welcome from them.”

Gorringe, whose campaign experience includes a stint with progressive lobby GetUp and working on US senator Bernie Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign, took over the reins of the AMRC in July from Sally Rugg, who left to work for newly elected independent Kooyong MP Monique Ryan.

In further proof of life, the organisation is hiring a campaign director to work alongside Gorringe – a full-time role that will pay $97,000 at a minimum. AFMRC was initially set up with seed funding from the Victorian Trades Hall Council, but now relies on grassroots donors chipping in an average of $28 a month. Gorringe said the organisation had 43,000 members based on email signups, and had not received large cash injections from high-profile donors, such as Rudd or Turnbull, she said.

But its future will depend on the willingness of donors to keep the flame alive in the face of adamant government opposition.

In a statement, Rowland confirmed it remained the government’s “clear and consistent position is that a royal commission or judicial inquiry into media concentration isn’t our policy”.

“An inquiry into a particular media company or the established fact of media concentration isn’t the way forward for media policy. We need to be outcomes-focused and that is the approach I bring as minister,” she said.

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