By Neeraj Nanda
MELBOURNE,29 October 2019: Victorian Premier the Hon. Daniel Andrews today minced no words when he supported a free press and said the media in Australia needed more voices and the concentration of media ownership with control was a matter of concern.
The Premier was answering a question by SAT during an interaction with the Indian media at the Parliament House today to comment on the reported move by the federal government to prosecute journalists in some cases for doing sensitive stories. Newspapers around Australia had blacked out their front pages a few days back in protest.
“We need more voices in the media. The concentration and control of media ownership is a concern to me.
You should be able to follow a story in an ethical framework and you can’t be fearful of simply perusing the truth and adding to the truth and fairness. No journalist should be worried to get penalized for that. No journalist should be fearful of these things,” he said.
The Premier further added, “For the federal government it is a difficult balance to strike and there are security issues. I hope they understand as I do that a free press with more voices in the conversation is critically important.”
“Not just having good values on paper but living these values with quality and inclusion is part of our multicultural nation. And the free press is a very important part of that, he said.
The media interaction also included the Victorian Minister for Planning, Housing, and Multicultural Affairs the Hon. Richard Wynne who detailed the many grants and schemes for the multicultural communities. Also present was the Hon. Robin Scott, Assistant Treasurer and the Minister for Veterans along with other MPs including Kaushaliya Vaghela, Matt Fregon and Paul Hammer.
