AustraliaNews Media Bargaining (Administration) Act 2026, News Media Bargaining Charge Act 2026 and Treasury Laws Amendment (News Media Bargaining) (Consequential) Act 2026
News Media Bargaining Charge Act 2026 (Cth), Act 78 of 2026, assented to
In force since .
A news media bargaining code rule binding public and private bodies.
- Instrument type
- an act of a legislature
- Categories
- Publisher right
What it requires
- Pay the news media bargaining charge at 2.75% of the service group's relevant Australian digital advertising revenue for the second-most-recent financial year, if you are the parent entity of a service group that provides a significant social media or search service and the group's revenue for that service exceeds A$250 million.
- Offset the charge by providing consideration to registered news businesses: the offset needs new eligible expenditure in relation to at least 8 different news business corporate groups, counts expenditure on groups made up only of small or medium business entities at 200% and on other groups at 150%, and cannot exceed the charge.
- Give the Commissioner of Taxation a return relating to the charge within 6 months after the end of the financial year, even where offsets reduce the amount payable to nil; the charge is due 21 days after the notice of assessment.
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text.
Who enforces it
Settledness
- As of
- Open questions
- How is the portion of a service group's gross revenue that is 'attributable to advertising on the service' worked out under paragraph 10(2)(b) of the News Media Bargaining (Administration) Act 2026, given that subsection 10(4) lets the rules deal with when an amount is attributable to advertising on a service?
What this law does
The News Media Bargaining Charge Act 2026 imposes a news media bargaining charge at a rate of 2.75%. Under the News Media Bargaining (Administration) Act 2026, the parent entity of a service group that provides a significant social media or search service for a financial year is liable to the charge where the group's relevant Australian digital advertising revenue for the service exceeds A$250 million.
A social media service is significant where its average monthly active Australian users exceed the higher of 5 million or a number prescribed by the rules, and a search service where they exceed the higher of 10 million or a prescribed number. The charge is calculated on the group's revenue for the second-most-recent financial year before the year of liability.
A charge offset is available only where the service group has new eligible expenditure for the financial year in relation to at least 8 different news business corporate groups. Expenditure on a news business corporate group made up only of small or medium business entities counts at 200%, and expenditure on other groups counts at 150%. The offset cannot exceed the charge, and no single group's adjusted total can supply more than one-quarter of that amount.
The Charge Act received Royal Assent on . It commenced on , at the same time as the Administration Act.
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app reuses other publishers' content.
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