Google on Friday pulled its trump card against the Australian government’s news media payment code, threatening to cut its search engine service from the country. Appearing at a Senate hearing, Google Australia’s Managing Director Mel Silva said: “If this version of the code were to become law, it would give us no real choice but to stop making Google Search available in Australia.” “Now that would be a bad outcome for us, but also for the Australian people, media diversity, and the small businesses who use our products every day,” she said. “It’s not a threat. It’s a reality,” she added. After the hearing, Google published a video of Silva on YouTube, standing by the search giant’s earlier claims that the government’s News Media Bargaining Code would “break the way search engines work” and that Australians would no longer enjoy a “free and open web.” Prime Minister Scott Morrison refuted Silva …