Media mogul Rupert Murdoch has lambasted ''self-serving politicians'' who could not run a company, but said businesses should expect every word of their conversations with government to be made public.
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In a spirited defence of the role of business in shaping public policy, Mr Murdoch told the B20 business summit in Sydney: ''Everybody in this room knows dozens or hundreds of very, very fine businessmen. How many people know a politician who can run a business?''
Mr Murdoch, the executive chairman of publisher News Corp and chairman and chief executive of entertainment company 21st Century Fox, said it was ''very important, if we live in a democracy with real entrepreneurship, we've got to have a world of ideas and debate. That means business is just as entitled to express its opinions as unions are.''
The comments came as Mr Murdoch's 21st Century Fox was revealed to have made an audacious $US80 billion ($85.3 billion) bid for US film and TV group Time Warner. It is an offer Time Warner has refused, but few expect this to be the final word, given the two companies have common shareholders.
Mr Murdoch, who described the former Labor government as ''wildly incompetent'', said business needed to be transparent in its dealings with government. His businesses are lobbying for a crackdown on online piracy. He says between 15 and 20 per cent of Fox's revenue is being eaten up by illegal downloads.
''It doesn't mean to say you can't have dinner with a cabinet minister and talk over an issue,'' he said. ''But you should be quite prepared for every word to be made public.''
Mr Murdoch is in Australia for a long celebration of the 50th birthday of News Corp flagship newspaper The Australian.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who recently had dinner with Mr Murdoch in New York, described the publication as Mr Murdoch's ''gift to our nation'' and ''one of the world's very best'' at a power-packed party this week.
The new bid could have local implications, though not immediately, as Channel Nine holds a content deal with Time Warner until 2016 that gives it shows such as The Big Bang Theory, The Mentalist and Two and a Half Men.
Time Warner owns the hip TV production company HBO, which is behind hit programs Game of Thrones and Girls.
The Abbott government is set to introduce changes to media ownership laws that could lead to takeovers among Australian media companies such as News Corp, Seven West Media and Fairfax Media.
It has been widely speculated that struggling commercial broadcaster Network Ten will be bought by either News Corp or Foxtel.
