Greens float publicly owned search engine

The Greens are calling on the government to establish a publicly owned search engine if Google makes good on its threat to withdraw from Australia.

Federal Parliament will soon vote on legislation to introduce a media bargaining code, setting up a battle with Google and Facebook.

Greens leader Adam Bandt believes it is time to treat the internet as a public good and intervene in the market.

“The internet is now part of everyday life, it’s an essential service. You can’t get by without accessing the internet,” he told ABC radio on Wednesday.

“Everyone in this country now should have a right to be able to search the internet, own their own data rather than hand it over to a corporation or to the government, and know that what they’re finding on the internet isn’t what Google wants them to see, but what is actually there.”

The minor party wants the government to investigate how much it would cost to establish a taxpayer-funded search engine as well as how to ensure the strongest possible privacy provisions.

Mr Bandt accepts there are already other alternatives to Google available, but argues it is not enough to let the market respond.

“At the moment Google has enormous market power and they’re using it to threaten the Australian parliament and the Australian public,” he said.

“If they do make good on their threat, given how dominant Google is in this sphere, it’s time to seriously consider what a replacement would be.”

Mr Bandt pointed to the example of the White Pages telephone directory, which was originally government-owned before being privatised.

“That’s what we should do here as well.”