Google Australia Threatens to Pull Search Engine as Battle With Govt Heats Up Google on Friday pulled its trump card against the Australian government’s news media payment code, threatening to cut its search engine service from the country. Appearing at a Senate hearing, Google Australia’s Managing Director Mel Silva said: “If this version of the code were to become law, it would give us no real choice but to stop making Google Search available in Australia.” “Now that would be a bad outcome for us, but also for the Australian people, media diversity, and the small businesses who use our products every day,” she said.