Name: Senate Environment and Communications Legislation Committee (part 1 of 3)
Uploaded: 2026-05-26T22:48:00+00:00

12:11 - 14:17

Speaker 44

Open this hearing of the environment and communications legislation committee into the twenty twenty six, twenty seven budget estimates. I begin by acknowledging the tradition custodians of the land on which we meet and pay our respects to elders past, present, and emerging. The committee has fixed Friday, 07/17/2026 as the date for the return of answers to questions taken on notice. The committee's proceedings today will begin with corporate matters and general questions of the communications and the arts portfolio. Understanding order 26, the committee must take all evidence in public session.

This includes answers to questions on notice. I remind all witnesses that in giving evidence to the committee, they are protected by parliamentary privilege. It is unlawful for anyone to threaten or disadvantage a witness on account of evidence given to a committee, and such action may be treated by the senate as a contempt. It is also a contempt to give false or misleading evidence. The senate has endorsed the following test of relevance of questions at estimates hearings.

Any questions going to the operations or financial positions of the departments and agencies which are seeking funds in estimates are relevant questions for the purposes of estimates hearings. That is a broad test of relevance. I remind the officers that the senate has resolved that there are no areas in connection with the expenditure of public funds where any person has a discretion to withhold details or explanations from the parliament or its committees unless the parliament has expressly provided otherwise. The senate has resolved also that an officer of a department of the commonwealth should not be asked to give opinions on matters of policy and should be given reasonable opportunity to refer questions asked of the officer to superior officers or to a minister. This resolution does not preclude questions asking for explanations of policies or factual questions about when and how policies were adopted.

Witnesses are reminded of the senate order specifying the process by which a claim of public interest immunity should be raised. I incorporate the public interest immunity statement into the hand side. An officer called to answer a question for the first time should state their full name and the capacity in which they appear. If I might ask officers appearing at the table to place their name tags in front of the microphone just to assist, hand side officers, mobile phones should now be switched to silent. Senators are aware that one of the roles of the committee chair is to ensure that proceedings are conducted in an orderly way.

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