This is China-US trade war dynamics. The Australian government can't back down on this. Neither can Google.<p>It's stupid. Google is going to pay the news companies just like it does in France, and everyone knows it. Why do people have to amp stuff up?<p><i>Prime minister Scott Morrison said at a press conference in Brisbane the government would not respond to threats.<p>“Let me be clear. Australia makes our rules for things you can do in Australia. That’s done in our parliament. It’s done by our government. And that’s how things work here in Australia and people who want to work with that, in Australia, you’re very welcome.<p>“But we don’t respond to threats.”</i><p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2021/jan/22/google-threatens-to-shut-down-search-in-australia-if-digital-news-code-goes-ahead" rel="nofollow">https://www.theguardian.com/media/2021/jan/22/google-threate...</a><p>(Australian, know lots of Google staffers, do not work for Google but work with them on things like standards )
Australians can use Duck Duck Go, Bing, or whatever. I'd bet in a few months Google wouldn't be missed.<p>Google can't operate in an alternative Australia.