Kevin Rudd's request for a Royal Commission into the Murdoch media ownership in Australia has reached an incredibly significant milestone.
As all eyes were on the US election votes, the Australian government's petition website notched its 500,000th signature.
The petition closed at 11:59pm last night (November 4), meaning no more signatures can be lodged. It rests with a total of 501,876 names.
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It's now become the most signed online petition on the Australian government's site.
It has overtaken the similarly successful petition demanding the government declare a climate emergency, which was launched last year and notched a still impressive 404,538 signatures.
The huge amount of support is particularly incredible considering the petition suffered a massive IT glitch when it was first launched and many people weren't able to put their names down.
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The former Australian Prime Minister set up the online petition to see what the public's appetite was for investigating why there are so many publications owned by Rupert Murdoch.
Mr Rudd said this issue is 'beyond politics' and he hopes a Royal Commission will 'preserve the vitality of our Australian democracy into the future', which is something he believes can't be done when Rupert Murdoch owns a raft of media publications across the country.
On his petition, Mr Rudd wrote: "Our democracy depends on diverse sources of reliable, accurate and independent news. But media ownership is becoming more concentrated alongside new business models that encourage deliberately polarising and politically manipulated news.
"We are especially concerned that Australia's print media is overwhelmingly controlled by News Corporation, founded by Fox News billionaire Rupert Murdoch, with around two-thirds of daily newspaper readership.
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"This power is routinely used to attack opponents in business and politics by blending editorial opinion with news reporting. Australians who hold contrary views have felt intimidated into silence. These facts chill free speech and undermine public debate."
Mr Rudd tweeted this week that he was still waiting for the Greens to pledge their support by signing the petition now that the Queensland election is over.
Greens leader Adam Bandt signalled a different type of support in a tweet yesterday.
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He wrote: "Kevin, MPs aren't allowed to sign such petitions, so I can't. But I'd be very pleased to table it in Parl on yr behalf. It's important & I support its call for an inquiry into corporate dominance & threats to media diversity. Let me know when you've got Labor on board."
Mr Rudd is hopeful that latter part will come to fruition soon.
He added: "It will take some time to convince the Labor party that it's in their interest as well. That will be influenced directly by the volume of public support."
Featured Image Credit: PATopics: News, Australia, Politics