Name: Senate Environment and Communications Legislation Committee (part 1 of 3)
Uploaded: 2026-05-27T22:48:00+00:00

12:51 - 14:23

Speaker 4

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 the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 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 and estimates are relevant questions for the purposes of estimates hearings.

I remind 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 shall be given a reasonable opportunity to refer questions asked to 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 Hansard.

14:24 - 14:41

Speaker 9

An officer called to answer a question for the first time should state their full name and the capacity in which they appear. May I ask all appearing today also to place their name placards in front of the microphones? I think you've all done that, so thank you very much. That's for the benefit of Hansard. Mobile phones should be now switched to silent.

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