$250m for TV networks was bribe: Abbott

The opposition has labelled a $250 million cut in commercial television licence fees
an election bribe, as pressure mounts on Communications Minister Stephen Conroy to
reveal details of a meeting with Seven Network boss Kerry Stokes.

Senator Conroy has admitted his meeting with Mr Stokes at an exclusive ski field in
Colorado in January was pre-arranged but maintains it was "perfectly normal
business".
"I knew that Mr Stokes was in Colorado and I was going to be in Colorado and we
organised to catch up," Senator Conroy told reporters on Tuesday.
"It was as exciting as that."
But Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said Senator Conroy had failed to properly explain
the decision to slash the licence fees, announced one month after his meeting with
the Seven boss.
Mr Abbott suggested the decision to slash more than $250 million from commercial TV
licence fees amounted to a bribe to court media favour ahead of the federal
election.
"It looks pretty dodgy to me," Mr Abbott said during an interview on DMG Radio in
Adelaide.
"It looks like at this stage, unless the government can justify much better than it
has so far, you've got to say that it looks like an election-year bribe."
"Maybe there is more to this which the government hasn't told us about, but at the
moment it doesn't look good. It looks like they're buying favourable coverage."
But Senator Conroy did meet a group of TV executives before Christmas to discuss the
move to cut licence fees, according to an industry source who was at the meeting,
but did not want to be named.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said the decision to cut the fees was about ensuring the
continuation of local content during the switchover to digital television.
The television networks were also facing significant costs as a result of the
switchover, he said.
"The fact that as far as costs being imposed on the industry through digital
switchover, this represents a considerable impact on the industry that's been
imposed through regulatory change," Mr Rudd told reporters in Canberra.
Senator Conroy said the Rudd government was committed to protecting existing
Australian content.
"That's exactly what we've done."
However, there were no conditions attached that would require the free-to-air
networks to spend more money on Australian content.
Opposition treasury spokesman Joe Hockey said Australians had the right to question
the decision.
"The payment to the TV stations has not been explained by the government, it's not
been defended by the government," Mr Hockey said.
Mr Hockey said the decision had been made on a whim and likened it to revelations
that Senator Conroy helped former Queensland state Labor MP Mike Kaiser secure a
government relations job with the company that will build and operate the national
broadband network.
"Maybe that's the same whim that he used to give his mate Mike Kaiser a
$450,000-a-year job without placing any advertisement or encouraging anyone else to
apply," Mr Hockey said.
Senator Conroy told a Senate estimates hearing last week that he suggested Mr Kaiser
for the role.
The job was never advertised and no one else was interviewed for the position.
Asked on Tuesday whether Mr Stokes provided any hospitality during the Colorado
meeting, Senator Conroy said: "Anything that is required to be disclosed according
to the parliamentary rules will be disclosed in accordance with the parliamentary
rules."