Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy) Share this | Hansard source

Again, unfortunately, Senator Birmingham possibly has not quite completed reading the legislation, as I thought he had so diligently, because it is quite clear in the legislation the minister can give no directives whatsoever to the advocate—none, zero. So those opposite on the one hand are claiming it is heavy-handed government intervention—'You're regulating the standards'—yet your very own questions demonstrate, from your first question and now this question, you are actually arguing completely contradictory positions as usual. So the answer is that those opposite are not interested in having a press council that will actually look after the interests of ordinary Australians. They are interested in protecting the interests of the proprietors who do their best, as the evidence shows— (Time expired)