John Watson (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

On behalf of the Standing Committee on Regulations and Ordinances, I give notice that 15 sitting days after today I shall move:

That the Broadcasting Services (International Broadcasting) Guidelines 2005 made under section 121FP of the Broadcasting Services Act 1992, be disallowed.

I seek leave to incorporate in Hansard a short summary of the matters raised by the committee.

Leave granted.

The document read as follows—

Broadcasting Services (International Broadcasting) Guidelines 2005

These Guidelines remake the previous Guidelines with amendments made necessary by the replacement of the Australian Broadcasting Authority with the Australian Communications and Media Authority.

Subclause 2.2(3) permits the making of a program that seriously offends a cultural sensitivity, incites hatred, or vilifies persons on certain grounds, if the matter is ‘a fair report’ or ‘a comment’. The Committee sought advice on whether the second term should be amended to read ‘a fair comment’. The Minister responded that the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has advised that it was ‘not aware of the Australian Broadcasting Authority’s intention regarding the original drafting of the Guidelines in 2000’ and that the omission of ‘fair’ in relation to comment was either ‘accidental’ or ‘a conscious decision to create a different rule for the Guidelines’. In light of this advice, the Committee has sought further clarification of the position of clause 2.2.

Senator Milne to move on the next day of sitting:

That the Senate—

(a)

notes that:

(i)

Prime Minister John Howard has recently equivocated on the export of uranium to India, in spite of the fact that India is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and

(ii)

India has a well-developed, active and secret program to outfit its uranium enrichment program and circumvent other countries’ technology export control efforts, according to a recently-released report by the United States of America (US) based Institute of Science and International Security; and

(b)

calls on the Australian Government to rule out the export of uranium to India and to use its membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group to block the proposed US-India nuclear technology agreement.