Petition launched by former prime minister caused problems for Parliament’s website after more than 38,000 people logged in in 24 hours
Former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has launched petition calling for a royal commission on NewsCorp’s dominance of Australian media, claiming Rupert Murdoch’s media company employs tactics that « chill free speech and undermine public debate «
The petition, launched on the Australian Parliament website on Saturday, garnered more than 38,000 signatures by Sunday morning, with Rudd tweeting that the popularity of the petition led the website to suspect users signing it were bots
As the petition calls for a royal commission « to ensure a strong and diverse Australian media » in the face of « new business models that encourage deliberately polarizing and politically manipulated news, » Rudd posted a video on Twitter launching the petition which focused on « the growing anger over what Murdoch’s media monopoly is doing to our country »
Australians have watched with growing anger what Murdoch’s media monopoly does to our country Cancer over Democracy Today I am launching a national petition to create a #MurdochRoyalCommission If you value our democracy, please sign here: https: // tco / FjfK7ij7YQ picTwittercom / gIGfmMF49W
However, the federal government is unlikely to act on the petition because Australia – unlike other governments, including the UK – does not have a signature threshold requiring a petition be debated in parliament
Explaining how he arrived at his current vision of the media empire – which includes Australia and several newspapers that backed him in the 2007 federal election – Rudd said the company’s masters were become an “arrogant cancer” of the country’s democracy
« The truth is Murdoch has become a cancer, an arrogant cancer, on our democracy, » Rudd said
He said 70% of Australia’s print media readership belonged to Murdoch and he owned virtually every newspaper in Queensland « which changes so much to federal election results »
Over the past decade, in 18 out of 18 federal and state elections, « Murdoch has viciously campaigned to support one side of politics, the National Liberal Party, and waged a vicious campaign against the Australian Labor Party. » said Rudd
Rudd said Murdoch withheld loss-making Australian newspapers to maximize his political power in advocating for climate change denial and to pursue business interests in relation to the national broadband network
« The last reason we need this royal commission is the sheer arrogance and boastful and intimidating behavior of Murdoch and his editors against anyone who stands up against him or has a different point of view. »
Guardian Australia has contacted the Australian parliament to clarify the cause of the issues on its petition website
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News from the world – UA – Kevin Rudd’s petition calls for the royal commission on News Corp’s dominance over Australian media
SOURCE: https://www.w24news.com
