Tuesday, 13 August 2024

Nine Network

Gary MAAS (Narre Warren South) (13:50): As a very proud member of the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance I would especially like to make a shout-out to some 500 journalists at Nine who had to take industrial action in support of their pay and conditions and in support of public interest journalism. It is incredibly difficult to do that, especially when you are under the scrutiny of such corporate types, who might even be at the Olympics themselves trying to enjoy a good time on the free run of other corporate organisations. But these very brave journalists did that, and it really is disappointing that they had to take five days strike action right at the beginning of the Olympics just to make management understand what their claims were about. I am very, very happy to say that those journalists who went on strike were able to get a 10.5 per cent wage increase over three years with higher loadings at the beginning of the agreement, protections for freelancers in their workforce, provisions for a diverse workplace and employee protections with the use of artificial intelligence. As I said, it is very difficult for those members to actually stand up to their employer to take that kind of action, but I congratulate all those MEAA members at Nine.