AAP
The proposed public interest media advocate would create a "star chamber" under bad legislation that was likely to be unconstitutional, the Australian head of Rupert Murdoch's global media empire says.
News Ltd chief executive Kim Williams said the advocate was fundamentally inconsistent with a free press, given there were no rights to appeal its decisions over a vast range of topics, from mergers and acquisitions to overseeing print and online standards.
Moreover, the advocate would have the ability to retrospectively overturn decisions made on mergers and acquisitions prior to the laws being passed.
"This is a modern day star chamber, no more, no less," Mr Williams told a parliamentary inquiry in Canberra on Monday.
"We believe these bills must be rejected.
"I struggle to understand what is driving the government's desire other than one to corral and gag the media."
During a sometimes-fiery session in the committee - particularly in exchanges with Senator Doug Cameron - Mr Williams reiterated News Ltd's intention to legally challenge the laws should they be passed by parliament.
He said the legislation was at an attack on free speech.
"They not only offend the constitutional freedom of political communication but also are a direct assault on the independent operation of Australia journalism," he said.
"This is bad legislation, with a bad process, which can only have a bad, severely detrimental outcome."
"The sanctions that are given to this regulator genuinely are of an extent and force that have no precedence in Australian law."
Mr Williams said there had never been greater diversity of media voices in Australian history.
"There has never been a wider variety of opinions and materials made available to Australians about their society and about the world," Mr Williams said.
Earlier, News Ltd released a 17-page analysis of the federal government's package, which Mr Williams described as a "sober" and "non-hysterical" appraisal of the problems in the bills.
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