Victorian Country Press Association

02/06/2026

CPA/Deakin Community Journalism Enrolments Close this Friday 5th June!!

https://form.jotform.com/261249134533858

26/05/2026

2 weeks to go!

Get your 2026 Award entries in now - entries close at 6pm on Monday 8th June 2026.

More details on how to enter, the complete list of awards and all award criteria can be found at https://vcpa.awardsplatform.com/

26/05/2026

Country Press Australia statement on News Bargaining Incentive

Country Press Australia (CPA) supports the core purpose of the News Bargaining Incentive, to encourage major digital platforms to enter into fair commercial agreements with eligible Australian news publishers.

The NBI must remain focused on that purpose.

Regional, rural and independent publishers have been among the most exposed to the market power of global digital platforms. They employ journalists, produce public interest journalism, serve local communities and carry the obligations of professional news publishing. It is essential that the NBI delivers practical support to those publishers, not only to the largest media companies.

CPA supports sensible measures to ensure small and medium publishers are not excluded from commercial agreements. We recognise the concern that platforms could seek to satisfy their obligations through a limited number of agreements with major media companies. The scheme should be designed to encourage fair dealing with genuine regional, rural and independent publishers that produce covered news content and employ professional journalists.

However, CPA is concerned by proposals to divert a portion of NBI levy funds into a discretionary grants program.

The NBI is not intended to become a general media grants scheme. Its purpose is to incentivise commercial agreements between platforms and eligible news publishers. Where a platform elects not to enter sufficient commercial agreements and a charge is collected, those funds should be returned directly and transparently to eligible news publishers that are investing in journalism.

Top-slicing NBI funds into a supplementary grants pool would risk changing the character of the scheme. It could make the NBI look less like a bargaining incentive and more like a revenue-raising mechanism followed by government redistribution. That would be a serious policy risk and could strengthen arguments from platforms that the scheme is simply a tax rather than an incentive to support commercial agreements for news.

It would also risk diverting funds away from professional publishers employing journalists and producing public interest news. A grants program would inevitably introduce delay, discretion, administration and uncertainty. It may also create pathways for NBI money to flow to organisations that do not meet the same standards, obligations or employment commitments as professional news publishers.

If government wishes to support news deserts, emerging publishers, community media, multicultural media or underrepresented voices through grants, that should be done through a separate program and a separate appropriation, such as the News Media Assistance Program. It should not be funded by carving money out of the NBI.

CPA’s position is clear.

Any NBI distribution mechanism should remain directly tied to eligible news businesses, covered news content, professional editorial standards and the employment of journalists. Funds collected under the NBI should be returned to the news sector through a transparent, objective and journalist-based distribution model, not diverted into a discretionary grants pool.

The survival of regional and independent journalism is too important for the NBI to be diluted or redirected. The scheme must remain focused on its original purpose, requiring the global platforms that benefit from Australia’s news ecosystem to support the professional publishers and journalists who sustain it.

13/05/2026

2026 VICTORIAN COUNTRY PRESS ASSOCIATION AWARDS ARE NOW OPEN!

⭐Important Dates⭐
Entries for the 2026 VCPA awards: -
 OPENED, on Wednesday May 6, 2026, and
 Will CLOSE on Monday, June 8, 2026, at 6.00pm
 The period of publication from which entries may be selected is from the 1st of July 2025 to 31st May 2026.

More details on how to enter, the complete list of awards and all award criteria can be found at https://vcpa.awardsplatform.com/

08/05/2026

CPA/DEAKIN COMMUNITY JOURNALISM PROGRAM2026
MID-YEAR ENROLMENTS ARE NOW OPEN!

Enroll Now
https://form.jotform.com/261249134533858

15/03/2026

27/02/2026

Last chance to invest in the future of regional journalism

Enrolments for the 2026 CPA/Deakin Community Journalism Program close Monday 2nd March. This is your opportunity to support working journalists with high-quality training, mentoring, and practical guidance that strengthens newsrooms and communities.

To enrol your staff, please click the enrolment link below:
https://form.jotform.com/253547181457867

12/02/2026

CPA/ Deakin Community Journalism Program - Enrolments are NOW OPEN!

To enroll your staff, please click the enrolment link below:
https://form.jotform.com/253547181457867

05/11/2025

Through every triumph and every challenge, every smile, tear and cheer, Country Press Australia newspapers are there.

Our photographers and journalists travel countless kilometres across this vast nation to capture the heart of regional Australia: the challenges faced, the triumphs celebrated, the bonds that hold communities together, and the courage to keep moving forward.

They tell the stories of courage and compassion, of mateship and resilience. The stories that make us laugh, make us think, and make us proud to call this country home.

These are the faces, the moments and the memories that define who we are.

Together, this is our story.

Through every triumph and every challenge, every smile, tear and cheer, Country Press Australia newspapers are there. Our photographers and journalists travel countless kilometres across this vast nation to capture the heart of regional Australia: the challenges faced, the triumphs celebrated, the b...

02/10/2025

A final reminder that bookings for this year’s combined Conference and Awards Night close tomorrow, Friday October 3.

Link to secure your tickets -

BOOKINGS NOW OPEN! Join us at the Sebel Resort Yarrawonga for our combined VCPA and Country Press NSW Conference and awards. * Pre-Conference...