Former Labor Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has handed over the reins of a push for a parliamentary investigation into Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp.
Going forward, ex-Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull (2015-18) of the Liberal Party will co-chair the “Australians for a Murdoch Royal Commission” alongside Sharan Burrow, former general secretary of the International Trade Union Conference and leader of the Australian Council of Trade Unions.
Prior to becoming Australia’s ambassador to the United States, Rudd (2007-10, 2013) spent years pushing for a Royal Commission into the news giant, claiming Murdoch was a “cancer” on democracy.
Former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd during the public hearing into media diversity in Australia at the Environment and Communications References Committee in the Main Committee Room at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, on Feb. 19, 2021. (Sam Mooy/Getty Images)
News Corp Australia’s mastheads have traditionally been major players in political discourse in the country alongside media conglomerates Fairfax (now owned by Nine Entertainment), Seven West Media, and public broadcaster, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), which receives over $1 billion (US$670 million) in government funding annually….