Laws aim to 'silence ALP critics'

TONY Abbott has accused Julia Gillard of trying to shackle publishers in response to criticism of her government.

Tony Abbott

TONY Abbott yesterday escalated the political fight over press regulation by accusing Julia Gillard of trying to shackle publishers in response to criticism of her government, as the Coalition repeated its vow to repeal the changes if they become law.

The Opposition Leader turned the media row into the dominant political issue of the day by seeking to suspend question time to debate the changes, forcing the government to stand up for the changes.

While the Prime Minister chose not to respond in parliament, the government leader in the lower house, Anthony Albanese, hit back by attacking the Coalition's record on free speech and declaring that Mr Abbott was trying to avoid a debate on the economy.

The government sought to focus question time on jobs policy and arranged no questions on the media changes, which were announced last Tuesday with a deadline to be voted on by the end of this week.

Opposition communications spokesman Malcolm Turnbull challenged Ms Gillard to confirm if she would take the changes on press standards to the federal election as Labor policy, but the Prime Minister would not say.

Launching a suspension of standing orders in parliament, Mr Abbott argued that major newspaper reports -- such as coverage of Ms Gillard's role in the 1990s in providing legal advice to set up the "slush fund" later allegedly used by officials from the Australian Workers Union to commit fraud -- would not have been published if a government official was overseeing the sector.

"Remember, Madame Speaker, this is the Prime Minister who said that News Limited had hard questions to answer and was then unable to specify what those questions might be," Mr Abbott told parliament.

"This is a Prime Minister who had a screaming match with the then boss of News Limited in Australia because one of his papers had dared to talk about the Australian Workers Union slush fund of the 1990s."

News Limited is the publisher of The Australian and Mr Abbott appeared to be referring to a phone call the Prime Minister reportedly made to the company's former chief executive, John Hartigan, in 2011.

"The job of the media is not to run advertising for the government of the day," Mr Abbott said. "The job of the media is to speak truth to power."

Mr Turnbull branded Labor's concerns about ownership concentration as "hypocrisy" given that a Labor government in 1986 enabled News Limited to buy more newspapers.

"Their concern is not about diversity, their concern is about opinion," Mr Turnbull said.

"They don't like getting a shellacking in the press. But they get it on air, they get it the pubs, they get it in the clubs, they get it in the streets, they get it all around the country. And they get it, Madame Speaker, because they so richly deserve it."

A Coalition government would repeal the bills if they were passed into law, he said.

Mr Albanese hit back by referring to Mr Turnbull's personal complaints about newspaper coverage in the past, but sought to shift the debate to the economy rather than the media reforms.

"This side of the parliament wants to discuss the real issues of our plan for a stronger, fairer and smarter Australia," Mr Albanese said.

"Our plan for the economy, for manufacturing, for protecting Australian jobs."

Those plans included the national disability insurance scheme and more funding for education, Mr Albanese added.