MICHELLE ROWLAND MP
SHADOW MINISTER FOR COMMUNICATIONS
MEMBER FOR GREENWAY
 
JIM CHALMERS MP
SHADOW TREASURER
MEMBER FOR RANKIN
 
HON MARK DREYFUS QC MP
SHADOW ATTORNEY-GENERAL
MEMBER FOR ISAACS
 
CLARE O’NEIL MP
SHADOW MINISTER FOR INNOVATION, TECHNOLOGY AND THE FUTURE OF WORK
MEMBER FOR HOTHAM
 
MORRISON DITHERS ON RESPONSE TO DIGITAL PLATFORMS INQUIRY
 

Reports that the Government is “gearing up to delay” its long-awaited response to the Final Report of the ACCC Digital Platforms Inquiry show this third-term Liberal Government has no plan for our country.
 
After six years in Government and six months after receiving the ACCC’s 23 recommendations, the Liberals still don’t know what to do when it comes to a range of consumer protection, competition, data privacy and media policy issues in the digital environment.
 
This Government talks a big game about the dominance of digital platforms, but instead of delivering long-overdue reforms to address information and regulatory asymmetry, they are sitting on their hands.
 
Consultation-weary stakeholders, businesses and consumers now face ongoing uncertainty as Scott Morrison adds the Digital Platforms Inquiry to his growing list of broken promises.
 
The Liberals have been consulting since 2017 on changes to the Australian and Children’s Screen Content regulations but have signalled this may drag out to ‘early next year’.
 
Faced with the facts about the decline in public interest journalism, and regional media, the only thing Scott Morrison has managed to do is lock in three more years of funding cuts to the ABC – a retrograde step from a retrograde Prime Minister.
 
As the rest of the world moves to tackle and harness the impact of digital platforms, Scott Morrison is drifting in the sea of Liberal policy inertia.
 
MONDAY, 2 DECEMBER 2019