Government website overwhelmed after more than 200,000 sign petition targetting Murdoch: ‘He has become a cancer’

News Corps controls about 70 per cent of Australia’s print circulation

There are over 255,000 signatures on the petition.jpg (AFP via Getty Images)

A petition calling for a public inquiry into Rupert Murdoch’s media empire temporarily overwhelmed the Australian parliament’s website over the weekend after racking up more than 200,000 signatures. 

The petition was created by former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on Friday, calling on the government to set up a Royal Commission to investigate threats to media diversity, particularly by Mr Murdoch’s News Corps, which controls about two-thirds of Australia’s daily newspaper circulation. He also controls influential channels like Sky News Australia.

In a Twitter video calling on people to sign his petition on Friday, Mr Rudd, of the centre-left Australian Labour Party, said: "“Murdoch has become a cancer — an arrogant cancer on our democracy”.

He accused Mr Murdoch of keeping “loss-making” newspapers in his portfolio to “maximise his political power in the country in defence of his ideological [and commercial] interests”. Mr Rudd hopes an inquiry will “maximise media diversity ownership for the future lifeblood of our democratic system”.

Mr Murdoch’s media and political influence is also widespread in the US, where he owns Fox News Channel and New York Post, and in the UK, where he owns The Sun, Sun on Sunday, The Times and the Sunday Times.

The huge wave of support for Mr Rudd’s petition overwhelmed the parliamentary website’s IT systems, triggering its cyber defences designed to filter out bots. The website experienced a staggering 500 per cent increase in visits over the weekend.

The issues were resolved by Monday, and the petition will remain online until 4 November. It has over 255,000 signatures so far.

Unlike in some other countries, the Australian government has no obligation to respond to the petition when support reaches a certain level. 

Mr Rudd has been a frequent critic of the Murdoch empire’s impact on the Australian landscape, claiming it was partly responsible for his and Malcolm Turnbull’s exits from power. Mr Turnbull, a centre-right former prime minister, has himself also rebuked Mr Murdoch, writing in his memoir that the mogul wanted him out of power because he was "his own man".

Mr Murdoch’s publications have frequently drawn criticism for climate change denial and using rhetoric and images widely condemned as being racist. The outlets have consistently denied charges of racism.