The Queensland branch of the Labor Party has backed the idea of a royal commission-style probe into media diversity in Australia.
Ex-prime minister (and Queenslander) Kevin Rudd celebrated the move as a “historic moment” for the state party.
Rudd, who has waged a long-running campaign to investigate the concentration of media ownership in Australia, has managed to get several Labor conferences to support the idea but has had no luck convincing the federal government.
Rudd also launched a petition that gathered half a million signatures in support of the probe.
The petition also triggered a Senate committee inquiry that backed Rudd’s position, although the Labor senators on the committee did not get the frontbench on side.
Communications Minister Michelle Rowland told Crikey on Monday the federal government “affirmed its clear and consistent position that a royal commission or judicial inquiry into media diversity isn’t the way forward for media policy”.
“The Albanese government supports a diverse and sustainable media sector,” she said.
“It is essential to informing local communities, particularly in relation to local, national and global events. We acknowledge that media diversity is a matter of concern to many Australians.
“We need to be outcomes-focused in implementing the backlog of recommendations that already exist, including from multiple reviews and inquiries into the media and public interest journalism over the past decade.”
Rudd’s office said on Monday the Labor branches in South Australia and the Northern Territory had previously passed similar motions.
It comes a few weeks after independent MP Zoe Daniel moved a motion in Parliament supporting the idea, with backing from another independent member, Monique Ryan.
The resolution passed at the Queensland Labor conference on Sunday was titled “Supporting media diversity in Australia”.
It called for the federal government “to establish a royal commission into media diversity in Australia”.
If that doesn’t happen, the branch supported the idea of a state inquiry into the matter.
The resolution was one of several dozen that passed “en bloc” at the end of the conference, meaning members took a single vote for a group of suggestions.
Australia has one of the world’s least diverse newspaper markets.
