Mitch Fifield (Victoria, Liberal Party, Manager of Government Business in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I thank my colleagues for their contributions—perhaps not some colleagues as much as others! The Communications Legislation Amendment (Deregulation and Other Measures) Bill 2015 and the Telecommunications (Numbering Charges) Amendment Bill 2015 are, as Senator Ludlam indicated in his contribution, essentially a series of housekeeping measures. In 2013 the government made a commitment to regulatory reform by reducing the burden of regulation, boosting productivity, increasing competitiveness and improving regulator performance. This legislation is the latest in a series of measures designed to implement this commitment in the communications portfolio.

The proposed measures in the legislation would amend, as Senator Smith covered, the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 to streamline regulation and reduce the regulatory burden on the broadcasting industry by making some minor amendments to account-keeping and licence fee administration arrangements for commercial broadcasters and datacasting transmitter licensees. The legislation will also remove duplicative requirements for licensees, publishers and controllers to notify ACMA of certain changes in control. It will deliver a single classification scheme for all television programs by removing the requirements to apply the separate film classification scheme for some programs, and it will make for clearer regulation by clarifying ACMA's complaints handling and investigation functions.

The legislation will also remove unnecessary arrangements for the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to issue a tariff-filing directions to certain carriers and carriage services providers under the Competition and Consumer Act 2010. It will reform the statutory information collection powers of the ACMA under the Telecommunications Act 1997 and the ACCC under the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 to ensure that the information collected from industry is relevant and serves a useful public policy purpose. The bill will also amend the Telecommunications Act 1997 and the Telecommunications (Consumer Protection and Service Standards) Act 1999 to enable the transition to an industry based scheme for the management of telephone numbering resources, potentially enabling greater efficiencies if industry develops a suitable scheme. The related numbering charges bill will make consequential amendments to the Telecommunications (Numbering Charges) Act 1997 as a result of these changes, ensuring that numbering charges continue to be set and collected by the ACMA following any transition to an industry based scheme.

Finally, the bill will make various other amendments to remove redundant and unnecessary legislation, including repealing 53 spent acts.

The bills are a further step in the government's deregulation agenda. I thank colleagues in the chamber for indicating their support for the provisions in the bill. I should acknowledge the amendments foreshadowed by Senator Dastyari relating to the NBN. I think it is something that colleagues in this place have come to expect from the good Senator Conroy: that from time to time there will be amendments moved to legislation that actually do not have relevance to the particular legislation before the chamber. An example of that was an omnibus repeal bill where we saw amendment to—

Senator Conroy interjecting—

I stand corrected, Senator Conroy—one in particular to do with submarines. The legislation before us, as I have indicated and as Senator Ludlam characterised it, is essentially housekeeping. Senator Conroy, in seeking to move his amendments, is seeking to introduce to this bill something which is not really connected to it. I am sure that there will be ample opportunity shortly to canvass some of the reasons why the government is not minded to support Senator Conroy's foreshadowed amendment. With those remarks I commend the bill to my colleagues.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.