From the AFR today:
Mr Warburton told The Australian Financial Review last week a public interest test was “unnecessary” and “wouldn’t work”.
“The current calls for a test appear to be a knee-jerk reaction to recent corporate events in the media industry,” said Mr Warburton. “A public interest test would give less certainty than the current arrangements and increase the administrative burden on the media industry. It would also introduce subjectivity to the regulatory environment.”
The letter [signed by major media CEOs] said a public interest test for media ownership would increase regulation and was “flawed on policy, regulatory and legal grounds”. It said such a test would be “subjective, vague and imprecise”, and that it had not worked in the UK.
The letter said it was “nothing more than a political interest test” which had “the capacity to be misused by politicians of all persuasions to block the acquisition of media companies by people they do not agree with or simply do not like”.
