Jackson WillieFAIR DIGITAL NEWS BARGAINING BILLFirst ReadingHon WILLIE JACKSON (Minister for Broadcasting and Media): I present a legislative statement on the Fair Digital News Bargaining Bill.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Poto Williams): That legislative statement is published under the authority of the House and can be found on the Parliament website.Hon WILLIE JACKSON: I move That the Fair Digital News Bargaining Bill be now read a first time. I nominate the Economic Development Science and Innovation Committee to consider the bill.I'm so pleased to be presenting the Fair Digital News Bargaining Bill to the House for its first reading. This bill will support the New Zealand news media industry by incentivising fair commercial deals between news media companies and the big online digital platforms. The bill promotes voluntary commercial agreements and creates a bargaining code to ensure commercial discussions are fair. When deals cannot be reached voluntarily the bill provides a bargaining and arbitration process that acts as a backstop to support our local New Zealand companies.The intent of the bill is to address the bargaining power imbalance between multinational global digital platforms and local New Zealand media outlets. This is about fairness. We want to see fair negotiations and fair deals for New Zealand media companies in line within what we are seeing globally. This important legislation will encourage deals and ensure smaller news media entities are not left out. This Government supports a free and independent news media ecosystem and wants to support New Zealand media companies to be self-sustaining in a digital future.The bill will provide a pathway for media companies to be viable in the 21st century. It will provide a critical revenue stream for media companies and ensure the sector will not be reliant on Government funding in the future. Fair deals will create enduring partnerships and ensure the ongoing sustainability of local regional newspapers and radio stations right across Aotearoa. The threats to block news in Canada proves the extraordinary market power that these platforms wield and underline why we need regulation to ensure that deals can happen here for our local content creators. A free and independent news media is critical to our democracy here in Aotearoa. We need a vibrant media system that contains many voices and can provide local news to all New Zealanders.The media landscape has changed. Without this legislation the local newspaper and radio station is under threat. People are accessing their news online. This shift has undermined the viability of traditional business models for news media. Without the ability to monetise their content online New Zealand news publishers will continue to see declining revenues and an inability to retain journalists and will produce less news content. While some commercial arrangements have been reached overall progress has been slow. Small local publishers and news outlets are at risk of missing out on deals completely. It's become clear that the market isn't working and there's a role for Government to support fair negotiations with global platforms. These issues have been acknowledged by the Commerce Commission as well as competition authorities overseas such as the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission in Australia.The New Zealand news industry is struggling. In the last decade newspaper advertising revenue has halved while costs have continued to go up. Increasing costs to produce news content combined with reduced incomes has contributed to the halving of the number of journalists in New Zealand. The current model is unsustainable and has a real impact on journalism and local community news. This will have real impacts for our local communities that rely on getting news to get their information something that all politicians should be worried about.The digital platforms generate significant revenues in this country. They make a lot of money from New Zealand. The digital advertising market in this country is estimated to be around a billion dollars a year. However most of this money goes overseas and the people whose hard work is used to generate that wealth are not fairly compensated. News publishers are trying to negotiate for the fair value of their work but are largely unsuccessful because they're too small and struggle to get deals. We have seen this with our very own News Publishers Association (NPA). While Google made some deals Meta has refused to engage with the NPA despite the Commerce Commission authorising collective bargaining.Something needs to be done to create a fairer digital news market. This bill is a way to support fairness and ensure that all news organisations no matter their size are receiving fair compensation for their work. It will create a bargaining code that will guide good faith negotiations to help our smaller regional and rural news outlets to enter into fair deals. The bill is designed to be flexible and futureproof to ensure it can adapt to the changing media environment—while Google and Meta are the two biggest players today that might not always be the case.If a digital platform can show that it makes a fair contribution to the New Zealand news media industry it will receive an exemption in the bargaining process. The Broadcasting Standards Authority will oversee the framework and they'll determine which companies are eligible under the legislation and this will be an independent process obviously at arm's length from the Government.The bill has provisions for Māori media supports smaller news publishers and requires digital platforms to strike deals with Māori news publishers. The bill also allows media companies to come together to collectively bargain without authorisation from the Commerce Commission. This will benefit all news publishers to combine resources and improve their bargaining position. The Google News Showcase deals that are currently in place show that commercial partnership between news media entities and digital platforms are possible and both parties can thrive. The bill is already having an impact on the digital news market place.New Zealand's not the only country taking action to support its news industry. Both Australia and Canada passed legislation to encourage commercial arrangements between news publishers and digital platforms which has been welcomed by the news media industries. At the same time the US the UK and other countries are considering similar legislation. Despite strong opposition from digital platforms our likeminded international partners are sticking up for their news industries and New Zealand needs to do the same. It's critical that we present a global united front in support of free press.News content is a valuable commodity. The news keeps people informed and up to date with important issues as we all know. It provides vital knowledge and connections for local communities. Having trusted sources of information in the digital age is becoming increasingly important. Highquality news media supports democracy and provides information to New Zealanders on the issues that matter to them. I'm pleased to be able to present the bill to the House because it directly supports a free and independent news media and will bring some justice and equity right across the New Zealand market place—certainly that's the hope—and ensure that all New Zealand media companies can continue to survive in a digital future without the need to be reliant on Government funding. I therefore commend the bill to the Economic Development Science and Innovation Committee and will support its passage in 2024.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Poto Williams): The question is that the motion be agreed to.