Aircraft, bulldozers and editorial independence

There’s speculation in The Australian that Karl Stefanovic is being funded by Gina Rinehart. But before Karl, there was Pauline, with no uncertainty over Rinehart’s contribution to One Nation. The evidence takes the form of a ‘sexy’ Cirrus in a hangar somewhere. And then there’s the toy bulldozer – a figurative nudge to the resurgent Hanson to go further than Elon Musk.

Whatever we think of One Nation, the links between Rinehart and Hanson might – at some stage – present a problem for media policy. In May, Rinehart, Hancock Prospecting and associated companies made a declaration to the ASX of an interest in Southern Cross Media Group, the company that now comprises the Southern Cross commercial radio stations and the Channel Seven TV network, as well as The West Australian and other newspapers in that state. The interest in Southern Cross was gained via a loan made to Bruce McWilliam in his accumulation of almost 10% of its shares. McWilliam is the former commercial director of the Seven Network and is said to be a confidante of Kerry Stokes, who still controls a 20% stake in the merged company.

There isn’t a problem with any of this now, not even if Rinehart obtains a controlling stake in the company. But there could be a problem if Rinehart builds these interests and her bid to influence public policy extends to editorial influence over the news media sources that are part of Southern Cross Media. We have no evidence that Rinehart would seek such editorial influence and there is no suggestion that she did when she had an interest in Fairfax Media (now Nine Entertainment) in the 2010s. While it’s well known that she refused to sign the Fairfax charter of editorial independence, the former Chair, Roger Corbett, has said that this was not a pre-condition for her joining the board. After being unsuccessful in requests for two board positions rather than one, she ultimately divested her interests. But in speaking to the AFR, Corbett has also suggested that with a significant shareholding, Rinehart would likely express her views on ‘how Channel Seven and The West Australian report the news’.

We don’t have any way of dealing with something like this. The remaining media ownership and control rules say nothing about a person’s outside activities – they only concern the mix of media interests they might control. For commercial TV and commercial radio, there’s a ‘suitability’ provision that applies to the licensee companies, but that won’t apply here. Charters of editorial independence – the least invasive means of asserting some obligation – may be desirable, but are unenforceable. That just leaves, at present, content regulation. The commercial TV and commercial radio stations would need to comply with rules in their broadcasting codes about accuracy and impartiality of news, and the newspapers and news websites would need to comply with similar rules under the Independent Media Council that SevenWest set up in 2012 as an alternative to the Australian Press Council.

Is this enough? At this point the question stops being about Gina Rinehart and Southern Cross. Ensuring editorial independence for newspaper mastheads and TV stations has long been seen as a prerequisite for effective public interest newsgathering and reporting. More recently – in the mixed up media world where network giants including Karl Stefanovic and Kyle Sandilands are now podcasters – ‘independence’ has come to mean something different, but editorial independence has enduring relevance.

So here’s our suggestion for one way of shoring up protections against editorial interference.

In the past decade, the media landscape has changed so much that media companies have been the recipients of financial support delivered through the News Media Bargaining Code (under which Google and Facebook/Meta made agreements with news media businesses) and even through direct government funding. The most recent manifestations are the News Bargaining Incentive that the government is consulting on, and the Journalism Assistance Fund which supports the payment of journalist wages. Under that fund, Seven Network Operations receives almost $5.6 million over three years, while Prime Television receives more than $1.6 million.

Both these initiatives give some recognition to editorial independence. Support under the Journalism Assistance Fund is not available if the news business is affiliated with a political party, NGO or lobby group and the affiliation ‘would influence, or might be seen to influence, the content produced’. And the NMBC/NBI arrangements include a ‘professional standards test’ that, in addition to a commitment to some editorial standards, prevents the news business being owned or controlled by a political party or advocacy group or by a party that has a commercial interest in the coverage (eg, a sport’s governing body). These tests could be more far-reaching. They could be expressed in a way that requires an explicit company policy promoting editorial independence, and compliance with that policy.

Some might say this would be undue intervention into private media. But using this mechanism would not, of itself, prevent the mingling of commercial and political interests. Anyone would still be free to pursue these objectives – it’s just that they wouldn’t be assisted by public policy or public funds to do so. In fact, this kind of approach would be consistent with current government policy expressed in News MAP (Media Assistance Program), which bakes in important concepts such as access to high quality information. Here, ‘quality’ is understood in terms of accuracy, fairness, depth of analysis, and so on, but also in the approach of the news business to its investment in journalism and its independence.

Ultimately, what we’re trying to support in all of these interventions is the important social role of public interest journalism. That would in no way be assisted by media owners seeking to use news coverage to promote political objectives that suit their business interests.

References:

ABC News article on the donation of a Cirrus G7 to One Nation: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-04-29/gina-rinehart-gifts-plane-to-pauline-hanson-one-nation/106620808  

ABC News segment on Gina Rinehart, Pauline Hanson and the toy bulldozer: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-06-18/gina-rinehart-gifts-pauline-hanson-orange-bulldozer/

AFR article on Gina Rinehart’s financing of Bruce McWilliam’s investment in Southern Cross Media: https://www.afr.com/companies/media-and-marketing/from-the-simpsons-to-southern-cross-gina-rinehart-s-long-media-play-20260527-p601ba  

AFR article on Roger Corbett comments: https://www.afr.com/companies/media-and-marketing/gina-rinehart-funds-bruce-mcwilliam-s-9pc-stake-in-southern-cross-20260527-p6010a  

Government News MAP policy: https://www.infrastructure.gov.au/department/media/publications/news-media-assistance-program-governments-role-news-and-journalism 

Journalism Assistance Fund: Journalism Assistance Fund  
Seven Network government grant: https://www.grants.gov.au/Ga/Show/882de735-ce79-4087-bfdf-d5f224b1e2dc  

Prime Television government grant: https://www.grants.gov.au/Ga/Show/cae01146-117b-45f2-a425-0499869f616c