BotW: Bad policy, good politics?
Welcome to Best of the Week, written this morning in Evandale, Tasmania, after a tiring few days of multistate travel as our Compass tour moved into top gear.
Today: After two-and-a-half years of slow going, the government is suddenly in a hurry on communications legislation.
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Why the sudden hurry on social media?
We’ve hit the point in the electoral cycle where the government is making a weekly announcement of new legislation around social media.
Last week’s was legislating a minimum age for social media access. This week’s a new digital duty of care for platforms. The detail around the age legislation is vague; the digital duty of care even hazier.
With just eight more days of Parliamentary sittings this year, and only another 17 next year before a likely May election, it’s now impossible for the government to pass everything on its communications policy agenda.
The communications policy gridlock goes beyond legislation. It’s more than eight months since Meta withdrew from its deals with publishers first signed in 2021 to avert designation under the News Media Bargaining Code. And it’s four months since the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission delivered “substantial advice” to treasury minister Stephen Jones on his designation options.
The rumbling around a digital levy on platforms to fund news has quietened. The last plausible explanation for a delay that goes beyond a lack of will from the Australian government was waiting until the US election was over to stop it becoming a US electoral issue.
The government now seems to be zooming in on communications policy that has votes in it. That’s why legislating age restrictions for social media is getting traction. Social media’s gravitational distortion field is clearly understood by the public.
What has become clear though is that despite having had two-and-a-half years in government, the policy was announced without having been fully thought through. Ministers have been unable to answer questions of what is and isn’t social media. YouTube seemed to be a target, then it wasn’t (or was). Are platforms like Snapchat social media, or a communications channel? How about WhatsApp groups?
And how will it work for adults? Will anybody using a social media platform need to upload IDs? What are the cyber security implications of that?
Still, the policy has gained enormous traction. Refusing to be wedged on protecting teens, the Liberal Party is going along. Unusually, Nationals senator Matt Canavan, better known for chasing headlines than the best policy outcomes, is among those calling for a Senate inquiry to ensure the policy behind any bill is properly scrutinised.
The danger is that a badly written law ends up on the books.
The media campaign spearheaded by Nova’s Michael Wipfli has driven the policy making.
It has parallels with Sydney’s ill conceived lockout laws which hobbled the city’s nighttime economy for a decade
The death of a teenager attacked on the street in King’s Cross in 2014 became a loud media issue. With alcohol- (although in truth more likely drug-) fuelled violence a massive public concern, the politicians needed to be seen to be doing something.
Within ten days of the death, the then NSW premier Barry O’Farrell announced new policies; within 20 days the new, badly misconceived law was in place.
The unintended consequences of the lockouts, and then the Covid lockdowns, wrecked much of Sydney’s nighttime economy, which is yet to fully recover.
Other than politics, there is no good reason why Labor should not allow age-gating legislation to be properly considered. Doing so would reduce the likelihood of loopholes and has the best chance of finding ways to make it actually work.
Both Houses will be sitting from Monday. If the legislation drops, it means that politics are trumping good policy.
Unmade Index has a good day
The Unmade Index had its best day in more than seven weeks on Friday, rising by 2.88% and outperforming the wider ASX All Ordinaries, which rose by 0.7%. The index, which tracks the movement of ASX-listed media and marketing stocks, closed on 437.9 points.
It was a good day for the major two TV companies, with Seven West Media rising by 6.5% and Nine up by 4.8%. Sports Entertainment Group, owner of SEN radio, bounced by 15.9%
CotW: Go a Little Extra
In each edition of BotW, our friends at Little Black Book Online highlight their Campaign of the Week
LBB’s APAC reporter Casey Martin writes:
BMF really pushed the (gravy) boat out for Aldi this Christmas. In the spot, the audience follows a couple after they’ve been asked to “bring a turkey, and maybe a gravy boat” to Christmas lunch. The couple builds a boat-sized gravy boat and sail it to their Christmas gathering. The gravy boat doesn’t survive, but they make sure the turkey does.
In case you missed it…
On Monday we previewed the final days of upfronts season and looked back on a busy week of media company AGMs:
On Tuesday we explored the troubled relationship between the trade press and big brands:
On Thursday we recapped the first night of Unmade’s Compass roadshow, on a fun night in Hobart:
And on Friday we dug into the radio ratings to explore how market dynamics in Sydney and Melbourne are making ARN’s plans for Kiis in Brisbane more complicated
Time to leave you to your Saturday.
I’m back on the road tomorrow night, heading for Perth, where we’ll be running Compass on Monday. Then it’s on to Adelaide on Tuesday and the roadshow wraps up in Melbourne on Wednesday night. Please do join us.
Have a great weekend.
Toodlepip…
Tim Burrowes
Publisher - Unmade
tim@unmade.media
