Wilson Tuckey (O'Connor, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Under standing order 102, I refer to your comments today regarding the full broadcast of question time on recording days by the taxpayer funded national broadcaster, the ABC. Are you aware that the station selected by the ABC to broadcast proceedings of this place is ABC NewsRadio, which provides approximately half of its daily program content from the British, American, German and Dutch public radio system and would therefore appear to have ample time to provide the Australian people with full coverage of the recording of question time, not a censored version? Today’s issue also raises the question as to why in fact ABC NewsRadio does not play a full recording of the proceedings of the non-direct broadcast chamber and the Main Committee upon the completion of proceedings of the relevant direct broadcast chamber, instead of overseas based broadcasts? As the Presiding Officer in this House, would you please consider this issue in the interest of publicising all proceedings of this place in full.

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In answer to the member for O’Connor, I refer him to House of Representatives Practice. A joint committee on the broadcasting of parliamentary proceedings is appointed in each parliament pursuant to the Parliamentary Proceedings Broadcasting Act 1946. Everything that flows from the rebroadcast by radio is as a result of decisions of that committee. I will take on board some aspects of what the member has put to me about whether there are other times that could be used to rebroadcast beyond one hour, but the so-called ‘censorship’ that the member refers to is as a result of decisions of the Joint Committee on the Broadcasting of Parliamentary Proceedings over several parliaments. In relation to the incident today, I think we can safely say there is a member of staff of the Department of Parliamentary Services who, whilst we should admire them for being creative and showing initiative, learnt a valuable lesson and will not be so creative without consultation with others. The lights should not have been switched on and off. That has not been the practice, as members have indicated to me. As the person who the buck really stops with, I apologise to the House for the confusion that it gave and especially to those members—along with me—whose blood pressure was elevated because of it.