April 25, 2016 4:00pm by David Farrar

Mediaworks almost loses Budget lockup for everyone

The Treasury has confirmed it is to go ahead with a lock-up for journalists for the budget on May 26, despite the Reserve Bank’s decision to end the briefings.

In a note sent to media organisations, Treasury chief executive Gabriel Makhlouf said he had weighed up whether to end the practice. “On balance, I have decided that an embargoed briefing for Budget 2016 will be held as planned. However, I will continue to review both the overall status of future Budget briefings and the ability of organisations to attend, in light of the adherence to lock-up conditions.”

This means there was a serious chance that Treasury could have canned the lockups.

It is unfortunate that Mediaworks has not been punished in anyway for their breach of the Reserve Bank lockup. As I said, they should at least pay the cost of the investigation.