Prime Minister Tony Abbott had a private dinner with one of the nation's biggest media moguls, Kerry Stokes, in Broome on Saturday night two months after handing the Seven West chairman a win by putting controversial media reforms on hold.
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In June, Mr Abbott put on hold reforms proposed by Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull that would have abolished the so-called "reach rule", which prohibits TV licence holders from broadcasting to more than 75 per cent of the population, and the two-out-of-three rule, which stops a media company from controlling more than two of a radio station, free-to-air TV station and newspaper.
Seven West, in particular, and News Corp opposed change – which has the support of regional TV networks, the Nine Network and Fairfax Media – but the Prime Minister has indicated he is unlikely to move on the laws unless there is consensus in the industry, which is an unlikely prospect.
Since the changes were blocked, regional TV networks Prime, WIN, Southern Cross Austereo and Imparja have launched a "save our voices" campaign and warned of local jobs being lost, particularly in regional news, a prospect that has caused growing agitation among Nationals MPs including deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss.
Fairfax Media has been told the dinner, held at the billionaire's sprawling beach compound, was attended by just a handful of people including Mr Abbott, Mr Stokes and his wife Christine, and the Prime Minister's chief of staff, Peta Credlin.
Sources familiar with the discussions insisted that neither the media reform issue, nor possible cuts to television networks' licence fees, were on the agenda.
Instead, the pair are said to have discussed regional development, the forthcoming Canning byelection and the political landscape more broadly during what was described as a "social catch-up".
In the lead-up to the decision to put media ownership reforms on hold, Mr Stokes was reportedly lobbying heavily behind the scenes, putting calls in to Mr Abbott, deputy Liberal leader Julie Bishop and a range of other senior Coalition MPs.
Prime Media Group chairman John Hartigan, who was formerly the boss of News Corp Australia, said the prospect of job losses at regional TV networks including Prime and WIN was very real.
"We have made clear our views [on reform] in a formal setting to the Prime Minister, in his office, which he was nice enough to invite us to. But we have not had the opportunity to put our views in such a tranquil setting," he said of the meeting between the pair.
"We don't want to threaten jobs of colleagues but at some point – and we have seen this with WIN already – something has to give. And regrettably that [network news divisions] is the last area that we can make savings to offset our financial position."
The meeting between the pair also comes after Seven last week announced the launch of a new app which will allow viewers to stream all its programs on mobile devices, regardless of where they are in the country, which regional broadcasters have attacked as evidence of Seven's "hypocrisy" because it allows the broadcaster to circumvent the 75 per cent reach rule.
Since Friday, Mr Abbott has visited Perth, Broome and Kununurra in north-western Western Australia, and late on Sunday night he was due to arrive on Thursday Island.
He will be visiting Indigenous communities in the Torres Strait Islands and Northern Peninsula Area this week, joined by ministers and senior officials from Canberra.
Former prime minister Kevin Rudd raised eyebrows back in October 2009 when he and wife Therese Rein stayed at the Stokes compound in Broome.
- with Matthew Knott
