James McGrath (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Shadow Special Minister of State) Share this | Hansard source

Minister, with respect, you are the minister. You are here representing the communications minister. In relation to the tabling of this letter, this is something that I think the Senate would like to see as part of its deliberations in relation to this bill. You have failed to give a timeframe as outlined in the letter. You have said that it is the intention of the government to have it completed by the end of the year. What is clear in the absence of the letter being provided to this chamber is that there is no timeframe within the letter that you've been able to speak to that sets out the requirements of the government concerning the publication of this register. While we're waiting for the minister's office to bring down a copy of this letter so it can be tabled, what penalties will the telcos face if they fail to publish real-time updates of network outages?