Josh Frydenberg’s “world-first” media reform a hand-out to billionaire mates

Josh Frydenberg sallied forth with a fulsome pat on the back this week … for himself.

“The Coalition’s ‘world-first’ Media Bargaining Code was a ‘success’,” pronounced the former Treasurer. A success indeed; a terrific success for the Coalition’s media mates Rupert Murdoch, Peter Costello and Kerry Stokes.

To be fair to Josh, he was only repeating what was in the press. Josh’s “media reforms” had forced Google and Facebook to pay millions in cash (secretly) to Big Media. In return, the News Corp, Nine, Guardian Australia and so forth sang the praises of Josh’s “world-first”. Manufacturing consent is a breeze, you just have to pay people.

This “official Treasury review” is an embarrassment to a once proud institution known for its rigorous analysis and political independence. Either the sharp minds of Treasury don’t know how the internet works or they are wilfully ignorant.

Moreover, the “official report” looks like it has been tampered with, its introductory page glossed up with the words “success”, “world-first” and “performed well”. The rest of this skimpy document touches on some of the problems with the Code but mostly misses the mark.

“We held our nerve, took on the digital giants, and won!” said Josh. No you didn’t, you got played by Rupert Murdoch in return for unctuous news coverage to make you look good, keep you in office.

A world-first joke

Josh’s heroes Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan would be giggling in their graves. This Media Bargaining Code is corporate welfare for billionaires. Worse, it is secretive, anti-competitive, anti-innovation, a world-first joke.

For those who are not au fait with this “world-first”, here it is in dot-points:

Murdoch and Nine whined that Google and Facebook were “stealing our content”. (They weren’t; they don’t publish the content, they publish links to the content, free advertising.)

Josh and co pull out all stops to force Google and Facebook to make cash payments to Big Media. All secret, no effective law or regulatory framework.

Big Media says it’s great.

Google, which had finally begun to pay some tax in Australia, then said forget that, we’ve been extorted.

Treasury issues Code review this week.

A Thatcher or Reagan purist would espouse a policy with free markets, competition, innovation. The Code simply subsidises old media. There has been no “designation”, no “arbitration”, no transparency, no public interest outcome. Just corporate welfare.

And the three greatest challenges of media reform – delivering competition to the Big Media oligopoly, addressing the creeping menace of surveillance capitalism by digital giants Google and Facebook, and defamation reform, remain neglected.

https://michaelwest.com.au/google-giggle-josh-frydenbergs-world-first-media-reform-a-hand-out-to-billionaire-mates/

News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code

https://treasury.gov.au/sites/default/files/2022-11/p2022-343549.pdf

Police knew of allegations against Hillsong founder Brian Houston’s father, court told

Former Hillsong pastor Brian Houston arrives at Downing Centre Local Court in Sydney on Monday.

Houston’s lawyer told a Sydney court “tens of thousands” knew about child sexual abuse allegations against his father before his death in 2004, including police.

https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/police-knew-of-allegations-against-hillsong-founder-brian-houston-s-father-court-told-20221205-p5c3n6.html

‘Acts of terrorism’: NSW Police issue $1 million reward over anti-Israeli bombings in Sydney

Police have issued a $1 million reward for information about the bombings of two Jewish institutions in Sydney 40 years ago.

About 2pm on Thursday 23 December 1982, a bomb exploded directly in front of the Israeli Consulate in Westfield Towers on William Street, Sydney.

A number of people were injured by shrapnel and glass, as well as being thrown across the room from impacts of the explosion.

The building sustained significant damage, reducing the internal stairs to rubble and creating a 30cm hole in the concrete steel-reinforced floor.

Later that day, the Hakoah Club was hosting hundreds of competitors for the Maccabi Games when a Valiant, which was parked in the basement of the club, exploded about 6.45pm.

While the device detonated, fortunately, the full potential of the blast did not eventuate. No one was injured, but it is believed the blast was intended to collapse the building

Investigations into the attacks were commenced and were quickly linked together and deemed to be acts of international terrorism motivated by Palestinian nationalism.

Extensive investigations were conducted, and a man was charged in 1983, however, the matter was no billed before the commencement of the trial.

In 2011, investigators from the NSW Joint Counter Terrorism Team (JCTT) established Strike Force Forbearance to re-investigate the bombings.

The NSW Government announced a $100,000 reward in December 2012, which generated a number fresh of lines of inquiry. However, to date, no one has been charged.

Investigators continue to seek information from the community in relation to the identity of three people who they believe can assist with their inquiries.

Strike Force Forbearance detectives have subsequently prepared a Coronial brief of evidence, which is being heard as an Inquiry before the NSW State Coroner from today (Monday 5 December 2022).

As such, the NSW Government has increased the reward to $1 million in hope that anyone with information which may provide answers and justice for the community – particularly the Israeli and Jewish communities – will come forward.

Deputy Premier and Minister for Police Paul Toole said detectives have dedicated thousands of hours over the years, particularly in the last decade, to solving this case.

“These two horrific targeted attacks were international acts of terrorism, and despite extensive damage caused to the Israeli Consulate and the Hakoah Club, we are extremely fortunate that no one was killed,” Mr Toole said.

“I hope this increased reward of $1 million will be the final push members of the public need to offer up information – no matter how big or small it may seem – to help police in their unwavering quest for answers and provide closure for all those involved.”

https://www.police.nsw.gov.au/news/news?sq_content_src=+dXJsPWh0dHBzJTNBJTJGJTJGZWJpenByZC5wb2xpY2UubnN3Lmdvdi5hdSUyRm1lZGlhJTJGMTA0NDMyLmh0bWwmYWxsPTE=

Twitter Is STILL Disabling Kari Lake And Other Republicans’ Like-Retweet Feature On Rigged 2022 Election Tweets – After Katie Hobbs is Linked to Censorship of AZ Republican Accounts

Twitter continues to censor tweets by Kari Lake and other Trump-Endorsed candidates in Arizona for exposing Katie Hobbs and corruption in Arizona’s elections and the courts.

The Gateway Pundit reported earlier that Katie Hobbs asked Twitter to silence her critics on top of running her own election and threatening to jail County Supervisors if they did not certify her corrupt election win.

Why would she, when she ran the election, oversaw 30% of election day precinct machines breaking down, had the media in her pocket, and was working with social media platforms to silence her critics?

This is corrupt and possible criminal activity – especially if she silenced her critics during her gubernatorial run, which is likely!

Save America attorney and star RSBN reporter Christina Bobb noted that the following tweet from Kari Lake about corrupt Obama-appointed Judge John Tuchi was censored with the retweet feature disabled.

Kari Lake and her attorneys were sanctioned by Obama-appointed John Tuchi months after a motion was filed and just days before election contests can legally be filed.

Tuchi sanctioned Lake over her lawsuit to ban the shady voting machines from being used in the 2022 election earlier this year.

However, as we saw on Election Day in the Midterm Election, voting machine failures and tabulation issues led to massive and unprecedented voter disenfranchisement at the polls.

The election was an uncertifiable disaster on Election Day when voting machines and printers suddenly stopped working at over 30% of voting centers the moment the polls opened. Republican voters were forced to wait in extremely long lines, turned away from the polls, or told to deposit their ballots in the questionable “box 3” for misread ballots.

These issues were present ALL DAY at some locations.

Because of this, despite having had only 17% of the turnout on election day, Democrats outperformed Republicans in multiple counties, which is unlikely, if not, impossible.

It is unclear if the “errors” on election day were truly by accident or if the machines were hacked or programmed to do this. What a coincidence, though!

The sanctions also came weeks after this election debacle occurred.

This was clearly meant to discredit the attorneys and deter Lake from filing any more lawsuits to nullify the stolen Midterm Election.

Lake told The Gateway Pundit, “The order reads like the Judge wants to deter not bad faith cases but electoral challenges. Punishing counsel is a serious effort to impune the professional reputation of counsel.” Read the full order here.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/12/twitter-still-disabling-kari-lake-republicans-like-retweet-feature-rigged-2022-election-tweets-leaked-twitter-files-reveal-katie-hobbs-behind/

>>17878457

His name would be E ron if he was Chinese

Alex Newman: The Great Reset Satanic Plot Against God, Truth, and the Church

https://rumble.com/embed/v1qrv5k/?pub=4