Put media reform to a vote: Lib senator The federal government should end the debate on its controversial media reforms and put them to a vote in parliament on Tuesday, a senior Liberal senator says. Simon Birmingham, who sits on both parliamentary committees looking into the government's package of media proposals, says the reforms are "completely unnecessary." The government is reported to have extended a deadline for a House of Representatives vote on the changes until Wednesday morning, in the hope of convincing crossbenchers to back the legislation. But with independents Tony Windsor, Rob Oakeshott and Craig Thomson all saying they will not comply with Communications Minister Stephen Conroy's "take-it-or-leave-it" approach, the legislation is unlikely to pass the lower house. Can I call upon the government to put this matter to a vote today? Senator Birmingham told reporters in Canberra on Tuesday. These reforms are completely unnecessary, they are a breach of free speech in this country, they should be discarded with. Let's end this debate, rather than seeing it prolonged, and let's test whether the government really has any support to enact these ridiculous reforms. Australian Greens leader Christine Milne, who has suggested amendments to the package, is glad Prime Minister Julia Gillard has indicated she will consider changes to the legislation. The Greens have said they will support Labor if it agrees to limit the number of press councils and tighten the public interest test for media mergers. "I'm glad we're going to have sensible discussion," Senator Milne told reporters in Canberra. I'm hoping that the government will take up these amendments so we can get on with the job of media reform. The Greens are not happy with government's deadline of this Thursday to pass the laws, but Senator Milne says there's a bigger-picture issue. ..." what we've got is a proposed set of bills and we want to improve them and work with the government to do so," she said. Responding to reports Ms Gillard had contacted disgruntled media executives to strike a deal on the changes, Senator Milne warned against a repeat of the mining tax negotiations. The government was left with egg on its face after the minerals resource rent tax failed to raise the billions in revenue promised. "We now know that the prime minister, (Treasurer) Wayne Swan and (Resources Minister) Martin Ferguson sat down and were completely outmanoeuvred by the mining industry," Senator Milne said. Given that, we certainly don't want a situation where the prime minister sits down with the media companies, particularly the two who own 87 per cent of the media already, and comes up with a scheme that suits them.