Australia to hold media inquiry after UK phone hacking

The Australian government today announced an inquiry into the media in the wake of the phone-hacking scandal in the UK.

The terms of the inquiry have not yet been announced, but it is expected to look at privacy and the industry's self-regulatory system.

According to reports, the country's communications minister Stephen Conroy told members of the ruling Labor party that the inquiry is not out to "get News Limited", the Australian division of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, which owns 70 per cent of Australian newspapers.

The announcement follows pressure for an inquiry from the country's Green Party, which supports the Labor Party's minority government. The Greens have also called for an examination of News Limited's concentration of ownership of the country's newspapers. Deputy leader Christine Milne told reporters: "We think the concentration of ownership and the Murdoch press have really given rise to a number of issues. We have put that out there very clearly."

Conroy has reportedly said that the issue of News Limited's level of ownership will not be covered by the inquiry announced today.

Tony Abbott, leader of the opposition conservative coalition, told reporters that there was "no evidence of any significant new problems with the media" and called the inquiry a "naked attempt to intimidate the media".

The announcement of an inquiry follows a period of acrimony between News Limited titles and the government, which included the prime minister Julia Gillard threatening to sue the Australian newspaper.

Gillard made the threat over an opinion piece in the Australian which suggested she had shared a house with a union official who had used embezzled union funds to pay the rent.

The newspaper withdrew the story and issued an apology.

News Limited chairman John Hartigan launched an internal review of editorial spending at the publisher in July, in attempt to counter what he called false allegations about wrongdoing.

Hartigan said the review will confirm "that payments to contributors and other third parties were for legitimate services".

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