Paul Fletcher said Microsoft is at the ready to replace Google Search with Bing in Australia, while Treasury pointed to the existence of codes in the dairy and sugar industries as justification for pushing forward with the Media Bargaining Code.
Google last month threatened to pull its search engine from Australia if the Media Bargaining Code in its current form were to become law, but the prime minister and his army of ministers have said they are confident the likes of Microsoft could swoop in to fill the void if Google does in fact exit the market. Treasurer Josh Frydenberg on Sunday said Prime Minister Scott Morrison had spoken with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella about the opportunities for Bing in a Google-less Australia, and during his address to the National Press Club on Monday, the prime minister said Microsoft is pretty confident that Bing is a sufficient alternative. Minister for Communications, Cyber Safety and the Arts Paul Fletcher joined the Bing support team, telling ABC RN that in the event Google leaves, he expects to see investment from other players in the local market. „We know that big tech companies make these threats from time to time, they don’t always follow through,“ he said of Google’s potential departure. „This is a potential commercial opportunity for other providers of search.“ Fletcher was asked if Bing was a sufficient alternative for Google. „I don’t hold myself out to be somebody providing product ratings and clearly Google has a much bigger market share in the Australian market than Bing,“ he said.
