The world-first draft mandatory code unveiled by Treasurer Josh Frydenberg last Friday in response to complaints tech giants Google and Facebook have not made adequate progress towards paying media companies for original journalism contains a gaping hole. 

“Under the proposed bargaining arrangements, commercial media organisations will be able to enter into negotiations with relevant digital platforms to determine an appropriate payment for news content, with binding arbitration to follow should they be unable to reach agreement,” the Treasurer says. 

“These bargaining arrangements will not be available to public broadcasters as they are principally funded by government and not through advertising revenue.”