News Limited takes out an insurance cover note

Gillard meets with News Limited brass

 

Photo: Prime Minister Julia Gillard has been critical of News Limited's coverage of Labor policies.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has met with editors from News Limited in Sydney tonight, just weeks after criticising the organisation for its coverage of Labor's policies.

Ms Gillard was invited to address the group in a closed meeting by News Limited CEO John Hartigan, and would not answer questions outside, but said they had a good chat.

Ms Gillard has said News Limited has some hard questions to answer in the wake of the phone hacking scandal in the UK.

In response, Mr Hartigan said he would be happy to answer questions about News Ltd's operations, but said Ms Gillard's comments were "unjustified and regrettable".

When asked about the meeting earlier on Tuesday, Ms Gillard said other prime ministers and opposition leaders had attended similar meetings in the past.

"Such meetings have been addressed by prime ministers and opposition leaders in the past, so when I was invited by Mr Hartigan, I accepted the invitation," she said.

Ms Gillard said none of the major media companies had made any representation to her about the proposed privacy reforms announced earlier in July.

Privacy Minister Brendan O'Connor was in charge of the consultation process for that, she added.

Author | Source | The Age, August 2nd