Greens ‘putting local publishers at risk’, says Louise Pratt

Labor senator Louise Pratt has lashed out at the Greens’ attempt to amend the news media bargaining code.

Labor senator Louise Pratt. Picture: Kym Smith

Labor senator Louise Pratt has lashed out at the Greens’ attempt to amend the news media bargaining code, saying the “hypocritical” minor party’s position would have jeopardised Facebook striking deals with publishers and putting local news on its platform.

Senator Pratt, a Left faction MP from Western Australia, said the Greens either did not understand the Morrison government’s legislation or “just wanted to pull a stunt in the Senate”.

Her comments to The Australian came after the Greens used the Senate to try to force changes to the proposed media code, ­including a requirement for media companies to lodge an ­annual report disclosing how they spend the money gained from revenue-sharing deals with social media giants.

The government’s legislation passed through the upper house of parliament on Wednesday with the support of Labor.

It will likely go to a vote in the House of Representatives on Thursday and become law.

“The Greens’ antics in the Senate today show just how hypocritical they are,” Senator Pratt said. “They pontificate about media diversity but howl down Labor for supporting amendments that secure the return of Australian news on Facebook, which is key to promoting a ­diverse media market.

“Their attempts to limit the scope of the legislation and strike out a key amendment jeopardised the agreement … reached with Facebook and risked de­platforming small publishers.”

The Greens’ three amendments — which included changing the wording of an amendment negotiated between Facebook and the Morrison government — failed in the Senate.

During the debate in the upper house, Senator Pratt accused Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young of being “naive” and of trying to undermine the independ­ence of the press.

Senator Hanson-Young criticised Labor and the government for backing a bill that was supported by both Facebook and News Corp Australia, publisher of The Australian.

The Greens said there needed to be extra protections to ensure small publishers were adequately remunerated by social media ­giants that fell under the code.

Opposition communications spokeswoman Michelle Rowland backed the compromise between Facebook and the Morrison government, which included a one-month warning period before a digital platform would be forced to comply with the legislation.

Scott Morrison used question time on Wednesday to talk up the government’s success in ­persuading Google and Facebook to strike commercial deals with ­publishers.

“Big tech companies may be changing the world but they shouldn’t run it,” the Prime Minister said. “They should be subject to the rule of law in the nations in which they operate.”