Senate Environment and Communications Legislation Committee
9 November 2026
Contents updated on 9 Nov 2026
Legend
Transcript markers
- text Sentence being played
- text Search result
- text Intervention cited by the link you opened
Click a sentence to play the video from that moment. Select text to quote it with the speaker, timestamp and link.
More options
Official source
Offset
Transcript offset
0s
Text size
Export
Live capture
Versions of this video
Transcripts may differ slightly from one version to another.
Senate Environment and Communications Legislation Committee Parliament of Australia
Follow its sittings12:22 - 14:06
Speaker 1
declare open this second hearing of the Senate Environment and Communications Legislation Committee's inquiry into the Online Safety Amendment (Digital Duty of Care) Bill 2026. I begin by acknowledging the traditional custodians of the land on which we meet and pay my respects to their elders, past and present, and I extend that respect to any Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples here today.
These proceedings are being audio streamed live via the Parliament's website, and a Hansard transcript is being made. If there are no objections, the committee authorises media recording and photography of the committee's proceedings in accordance with broadcasting resolution three. And I remind any media present during the course of the day that this permission can be revoked at any time and that the media must follow the direction of secretariat staff. 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 to the Senate. The committee generally prefers evidence to be given in public, but under the Senate's resolutions, witnesses have the right to request to be heard in private session.
The Senate has resolved that an officer of a department of the Commonwealth or of a state shall not be asked to give opinions on matters of policy and shall be given 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. If a witness objects to answering a question, they should state the ground upon which the objection is made and the committee will determine whether it will insist on an answer, having regard to the ground which is claimed. If the committee determines to insist on an answer, a witness may request the answer to be given in camera. Commonwealth officers appearing today are also reminded of the Senate order specifying the process by which a claim of public interest immunity should be raised.
The rest of the transcript is for Pro customers
Unlock the full transcript, chat, and every analysis feature with Polyfact Pro.
The video itself stays free to watch, in full, no account needed.
Start a free trialAsk anything about this video — I analyse its transcript to answer.