Australian Government Dumps Press Regulation Proposals

THE federal government has dumped the final four media reform bills after it failed to get the backing of enough cross bench MPs to save them.

Communications Minister Stephen Conroy stood by his promise last week to shelve the legislation if he could not get backing by today.

"If it can't be agreed on by the end of this week then … we will not proceed with the bills and we will move on," Senator Conroy said today before the bills were withdrawn.

The dumped bills covered controversial proposals for a body to oversee the policing of news media by the Press Council which powers to withdraw privacy exemptions from council members should it not safeguard consumer rights. It would have also looked at diversity of media.

(H/T Invisible Furry Hand)

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