Deborah O'Neill (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

So the minister is not responding. The comment reads:

The advisory committee's recommendations will be made public. Further transparency measures will include details of the administration of the fund being included in the ACMA's Annual Report and scrutiny through Senate Estimates.

This change of the role for ACMA is described in Senator Xenophon's statement as the fund being:

… administered independently of government by the Australian Communications and Media Authority …

I've asked what changes are required for ACMA to be able to do that. In your response, Minister, you indicated that if there were amendments that were required you would do that at some later point in time. Why is it not prepared for consideration now, as this is part of the deal that you're doing? We've got no guarantee that what you have promised Senator Xenophon, in terms of ACMA administering this, is actually going to be possible. When do you propose to put these amendments?