Google's Australian managing director Mel Silva (Image: Supplied)

Google is threatening to remove its search engine from Australia if the government passes a proposed news media bargaining code that would make big tech platforms pay media companies.

The company's Australia and New Zealand managing director Mel Silva told a Senate Estimates hearing Google would have "no other choice but to stop making Google search available in Australia", confirming what was predicted in Crikey last week.

Key to Google's objection to the code is a requirement that it pays media companies for links and snippets that appear in search, and a mandatory arbitration process between the tech giants and news outlets over the value of content.