'Hard questions' for News Corp in Australia: PM

CANBERRA, Australia -The Australian arm of News Corp will have to answer "hard questions" in Australia following the growing phone hacking scandal in the United Kingdom, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard said on Wednesday.

Gillard said Australians had been "disturbed" by events in Britain, where Australian-born Rupert Murdoch and his son James on Tuesday defended at a parliamentary hearing their handing of events that have shaken the family's grip on their media empire.

"When there has been a major discussion overseas, when people have seen telephones hacked into, when people have seen individuals grieving have to deal with all of this, then I do think that causes them to ask some questions here in our country, some questions about News Ltd here," Gillard told reporters in New South Wales."Obviously News Ltd has got a responsibility to answer those questions when they're asked," she said.