Mr Fletcher said streaming platforms like Netflix or YouTube don't have such local content obligations, even though "they're capturing a huge number of eyeballs in the Australian market" along with substantial revenue. "From a competition perspective if you have businesses which are essentially competing for the eyeballs of Australians and delivering video content, the question the ACCC is asking is 'why is it that there are one set of regulations delivered to one set of businesses but not to another set of businesses?'" he told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age on Sunday. The measures are seen as the first step in a multi-stage solution, with the ultimate goal of bringing all major digital players under a multinational digital services tax to be pushed by Treasury. Tax would be transferred between countries depending on the number of users or data provided by users. Loading The United Kingdom, European Union and New Zealand have all led the push for a multilateral digital services tax, but Australia has been wary of going it alone after earlier declaring it would not wait for others to move.

The digital platforms inquiry is seen within government as a mechanism for it to level the playing field by encouraging tech giants to invest locally, while it waits for a multilateral solution at the G20. Mr Fletcher played down the significance of a "Netflix tax" mooted by the NBN in a recent discussion paper, where providers could charge more depending on the type of traffic being used. "The particular question of video traffic was one of about 50 questions, so I don't think too much should really be read into it. It's largely an exercise on the part of the NBN on working with resellers to explore ways in which the current pricing framework might evolve," he said. "It's not a government policy document, it's not a government decision and indeed pricing decisions are one for the NBN board and management." Communications Minister Paul Fletcher. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer

He raised concerns that many Australians were unaware of the privacy implications of data being collected and monetised for advertising by Facebook and Google. In once case, the inquiry found almost 2500 lines of data had been downloaded by Google about an ACCC staff member's family including every question his children had asked of Google Assistant. "It really is a powerful example of the enormous amounts of data that Google and Facebook and the digital platforms are collecting," said Mr Fletcher. "The IP address, other device identifiers, the location that you are connecting from and also in many cases they can access information from other websites. "These platforms are absolutely pervasive in our lives. These are very important policy questions."

For streaming giants such as Netflix and the Nine-owned Stan it is expected that any final local content measure would stop short of the 55 per cent Australian programming required of free-to-air networks. Researchers at RMIT University found that Netflix's Australian content had fallen from 2.5 per cent in 2017 to 1.6 per cent in 2018. Over the same period, Stan's local content had risen from 9.5 per cent to 11.1 per cent. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video Local content restrictions encourage broadcasters to invest in local productions, creating jobs and putting some money that would otherwise flow to overseas accounts back into the domestic economy. The government will hand down its final response to the inquiry by the end of the year.