Paul Fletcher (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Minister for Urban Infrastructure and Cities) Share this | Hansard source

I'm very pleased to have the chance to respond to what is—as is usually the case with the Leader of the Opposition—a complete mischaracterisation of the facts. The facts are very straightforward. The SBS receives around $280 million in funding every year from the government. How SBS decides to use this funding is a matter for the board and management of SBS—a fairly basic principle of governance.

I do want to make the point that, in exchange for sharing the World Cup rights, SBS secured some rights to the English Premier League matches over a three-year period—2016-17 to 2018-19. In other words, the board and management of SBS made a commercial decision. On this side of the House, we think they are best placed to make those decisions.

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