''We are not prepared to barter this bill,'' Senator Conroy said, adding that if he does not get the support he needs from the Coalition, Greens or crossbenchers, the bill will be scrapped. To oversee the new reforms, Senator Conroy wants to create a new role – a ''public interest advocate'' with statutory powers. The advocate would judge whether mergers and acquisitions of media companies meet the ''public interest test'' - the aim being, Senator Conroy said, to ensure that there was enough diversity in Australian media. The government will not regulate the press or fund the bodies that do but Senator Conroy said he wanted to ensure stronger self-regulation by the existing press councils. The public interest advocate would oversee the press councils and judge whether media companies met their own standards set out by the councils.

Many within the Labor Party have particular concerns about the influence of the Murdoch family. Labor MP John Murphy, an outspoken critic of the Murdoch family, said he was satisfied from Senator Conroy's presentation to caucus this morning that the Murdochs would not be allowed to expand their media empire. "This one is critical for the future of our democracy," Mr Murphy said. There had been speculation that Senator Conroy was going to introduce a specific law to prevent News Limited from increasing its dominance in the Australian media - for example from adding television or radio to its pay TV and newspaper interests. He did not do so and made no mention of the Murdochs in his press conference.

Instead of introducing a black and white law on media ownership, Senator Conroy wants to outsource such judgments to the new public interest advocate. Senator Conroy has hesitated on one of the most contentious parts of the media reform bill. Senator Conroy said in November last year that the 75 per cent ''reach rule'' was outdated and that he would like it scrapped. The reach rule limits any one TV network from reaching more than 75 per cent of the population. Abolishing this law would allow Nine Network to go ahead with a $4 billion merger with Southern Cross Media. But in the past few weeks the Seven and Ten networks have expressed concerns about abolishing the reach rule.

Senator Conroy has referred the reach rule to a committee. Nine Entertainment chief executive David Gyngell was seen in Parliament House shortly after Senator Conroy's press conference. Senator Conroy said he had not told media companies about the package before announcing it to journalists. Follow the National Times on Twitter