Australia needs to get on with its News Media Bargaining Code, support for which remains strong according to advocacy group PIJI.

The Public Interest Journalism Initiative – which has former ACCC chairman Alan Fels as its chairman – is urging “swift action”, and says Canada’s last-minute decision to rescind its digital services tax in response to US trade pressure “does not signal doom for Australia’s efforts to get tech giants to the bargaining table with local news publishers”.

Instead, it says industry leaders on both sides are open to further developments, which the government promises are on the way.

PIJI said the US Computer & Communications Industry Association had previously called Australia’s proposed News Bargaining Incentive a “coercive and discriminatory tax”, but had recently taken a softer view. It told the Australian Financial Review the code was still “a potential trade issue”, but not as much as digital services taxes imposed by Canada, Spain, Italy and the UK.

Australian news media organisations continued to support what is now being called “the incentive” and stressed the importance of its swift resolution. A public consultation paper was to have been released early this year, but “no obvious progress” has been made on legislation.