Communications Minister Paul Fletcher says search engines such as Bing and DuckDuckGo are ready to take over from market heavyweight Google as the company threatens to withdraw from Australia.
Google’s threat comes in response to a proposed bill that would force it to pay for journalism it provides links to in an attempt to boost Australia’s troubled media industry.
The Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance is one of several groups cautioning against the bill, saying it is unclear how funds will be spent.