KEY POINTS:
News Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch was Downunder this week and, as usual, his presence was felt by politicians and the like.
At a news conference and at News Corp's 2006 shareholder meeting on Thursday, Murdoch blasted Federal Treasurer Peter Costello for a tax regime which he said bridled
small businesses and the country's entrepreneurial spirit. He also ripped into Australia's internet broadband speeds.
In wide-ranging comments, Murdoch also labelled mobile phones and the internet as the "two great new platforms" and predicted News Corp's social networking phenomenon, MySpace, could touch 300 million users worldwide by 2008, up from 25 million when the media giant acquired the company just over a year ago for US$580 million ($873.53 million).
But it was Murdoch's blunt assessment on Australian broadband speeds - he called them a disgrace - and the Government's desire to sit on "big fat [budget] surpluses" which got him particularly passionate.
"There's no growth in Adelaide, there's no growth in Melbourne, there's no growth in Sydney," he said.
"I have a theory about it, which I think is right, that we are being picked on very heavily by the Treasurer. We believe there should be much lower taxes, particularly to encourage people to start businesses.
"I think it's very, very unfair to would-be entrepreneurs and young entrepreneurs, and the Government is sitting on big fat surpluses. The health of an economy is in the formation of small business.
"Big, steady businesses are not going to add a lot [of growth]. Young people should be starting businesses."
That spray was only the start for Murdoch, however. He claimed to be appalled at just how much Australia was lagging with its broadband speeds, calling for the Government and Telstra to plough A$10-12 billion ($12-14 billion) into a fast network which would cover every town in Australia. "They do it in Japan, they do it in South Korea. We should be able to do it here," he said. "We are being left behind and we will pay for it.
"When you have broadband - real broadband, not the type they're talking about here - where you get, say, 20Mbps of data into your home, it changes everything.
"People then spend a lot of time with their laptops and computers. In Australia we only have a couple of million [broadband users] and they don't even get 1Mb.
"My understanding is that only about 20 per cent of access to broadband - or what you call access to broadband here - is 56Kb, which is nothing. I think it's a disgrace. In England they are giving away 2Mb. Broadband certainly is going to become ubiquitous around the world, and if you don't have it, you're left behind."
Murdoch also voiced amazement at the growth of social networking site MySpace.
"Thirteen months ago we bought a little company which had in it a site called MySpace," he said.
"It had 25 million users. Today it is 130 million across the world, and to our amazement it is growing by two million a week. We're extending it to Japan; we're in France, Germany and we will be in Italy in a matter of days. It keeps snowballing and if we keep going at this rate - it's a big if, I know - we will have 200 million by the end of this year and 300 million the year after that.
"Things can go wrong, of course. We have to stay cool and be attractive to people under 35, but it is a very exciting, very promising prospect."
Murdoch also questioned about News Corp's plan for rival publisher John Fairfax after it spent A$360 million ($ 415.42 million) for a 7.5 per cent stake in the group last month. "Oh, just to make it difficult for anyone to take them over," he said.
As for the future of newspapers, Murdoch said he would like to think there was one although "whether it will be delivered on a piece of crushed wood" was in serious debate.
He said the critical issue was for newspapers and other media to have an online presence, funded primarily by advertising rather than subscriptions.
On emerging media channels: "Mobile phones will become a major platform for media ... It will be a very exciting new world, which we have to find a way to live in and prosper."
* Paul McIntyre is a Sydney journalist
