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Treasury ramps up briefings on news bargaining incentive ahead of election

The briefings represent the strongest signal yet that Labor may push ahead with a consultation process on the policy before the election.

John Buckley
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The news bargaining incentive aims to force tech platforms to strike deals with news publishers by levying a charge on the platforms after Meta abandoned deals worth $70 million annually in March last year. AAP/Lukas Coch.

Treasury officials have ramped up private briefings with executives on the news bargaining incentive over the past week — the strongest signal yet that Labor may push ahead with a consultation process on the policy before the election.

These departmental briefings began shortly after retiring Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones unveiled the news bargaining incentive late last year. The policy aims to force tech giants to pay for journalism by introducing a charge-and-offset scheme.

Over the past week, Treasury has held multiple briefings with a broad range of executives, including representatives from tech firms set to be immediately captured by the framework, such as Alphabet-owned Google, Meta, and ByteDance’s TikTok, according to people familiar with the discussions.

“Meetings with stakeholders have explained the [news bargaining incentive] proposal and sought input ahead of public consultation on the details of the NBI,” a Treasury spokesman told Capital Brief.