Jacinta Collins (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

On taking note of this report there are two quick points that I would like to make. As a government senator on the committee, I commend the work of the secretariat in relation to the overall activity that has been occurring in political advertising, because the secretariat has been working not only on this bill, which the Greens have introduced, but also on a referral to the references committee, moved by Family First, and, indeed, on a reopening of the estimates argued for by the opposition. So there are three other areas of activity on political advertising that the Senate committee has been caught up with just in this week.

In the much broader context, following on from some of the comments from Senator Brown, I think we need to take stock here of the Auditor-General’s position. Despite his concerns with the revised guidelines, he said very clearly in estimates that the current guidelines remain:

... a significant improvement on what occurred in this area in the past.

Thank you, Senator Brown, for reminding me that that is a point that the opposition, in their campaigning on this issue, are very, very quick to forget. The other reason I stand now to take note is simply to seek leave to continue my remarks.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.