Today is the day the Australian government says it will "bring to parliament" its mandatory news media bargaining code for digital platforms, but with concessions to Google and Facebook and fears of months more delays.

Broadcaster Nine Entertainment - which owns leading metro dailies The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald, and the Australian Financial Review - says new provisions for a "two-way value exchange" which enables digital giants to charge the value of the eyeballs it directs against that of the content it is using, will "merely entrench both the monopoly powers of digital companies and the unfair imbalance in media regulation".

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has dismissed allegations the government has made too many concessions to gain the support of Google and Facebook.

Easier to countenance is the (we think reasonable) inclusion of public broadcasters the ABC and SBS into the scheme in order to secure Labor and Greens support for the legislation.

News Corp has welcomed the progress to parliament, with executive chairman Australasia Michael Miller saying all it had wanted was "fair payment for fair usage" of content.

In a statement yesterday by Frydenberg and communications, cyber safety and arts minister Paul Fletcher, the government lists how the code will "support a diverse and sustainable Australian news media sector".

Top of the list is "encouraging the parties to undertake commercial negotiations outside the Code", followed by a less-than-transparent clause on "enabling digital platforms to publish standard offers, which provides smaller news media businesses with an efficient pathway to finalising agreements with digital platforms". What form this will take is not clear.

The code will also:

-establish a negotiation framework under the Code that allows both parties to bargain in good faith and reach binding agreements;

-ensure that an independent arbiter is able to determine the level of remuneration that should be paid under a fair and balanced final offer arbitration model should the parties be unable to reach agreement; and

-set clear and workable minimum standards for digital platforms including requiring 14 days advance notice of deliberate algorithm changes that impact news media businesses.

Initially it will apply to Facebook NewsFeed and Google Search, but the statement says other digital platform services can be added later "if there is sufficient evidence to establish that they give rise to a bargaining power imbalance". The treasurer will review the code after a year, "to ensure it is delivering outcomes that are consistent with the government's policy intent".

The Australian Financial Review echoes Nine's criticism of the code as now proposed, headlining one story, 'Treasurer's big stick turns into a nudge'.

Yesterday it reported that the legislation would probably be referred to a Senate committee before it was voted on in parliament "around February or March next year".

It seems Frydenberg and Fletcher briefed a group of Coalition backbenchers on the draft legislation privately on Monday. It says lobbying by Google and Facebook has been intense, and mentions that the federal treasurer was best man at the wedding of Seven Group chief executive (and heir apparent) Ryan Stokes, while former treasurer Peter Costello - who is now chairman of Nine - "are perceived by close watchers to have been influential". It lists David Gazard and Scott Briggs as allies of prime minister Scott Morrison who "have been among those representing Facebook" to pressure the government to water down the legislation.

The AFR likens the arbitration system to that used by American baseball teams in player pay disputes. The ACMA would select a dozen mediators, and an arbitrator from this list would typically select one of the two monetary bids rather than suggesting a compromise, "to encourage the parties to the centre and avoid lobbing unrealistic high-ball and low-ball bids".

Quite what the rush has been to get this into the current parliamentary session - without finalising the detail - is not clear and, given that a week is a long time in politics, "February or March" seem an awful long way off.

Interestingly, AFR reports later this week quote ACCC chairman Rod Sims that the arbitration process should be "used only as a last resort".

The same source quotes Michael Miller that the 'two-way value exchange' clause "is unlikely to have much impact on the amount of revenue that media companies receive" from digital platforms. In his dreams, perhaps.

Peter Coleman

Pictured: Ryan Stokes' best man, Australian treasurer John Frydenberg 'will review legislation after a year'