Helen Coonan (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts) Share this | Hansard source

I will add to my earlier response seeing as it is a matter of concern to colleagues. There is of course an amendment we are discussing that deals specifically with subsection E of division 5A of the bill, to enable ACMA to deal with situations in which two or more registrable notifications are made. The bill will be amended to require ACMA to deal with the notification of media transactions in order of receipt ensuring that, should circumstances arise in which only one transaction of two or more transactions is registrable as compliant with the requirements of the Broadcasting Services Act, the transaction first notified to ACMA will be the one that is registered. It will provide greater certainty and fairness for industry in the operation of the Register of Controlled Media Groups.

Of course this is not, should the Senate pass this legislation, due to come into operation tomorrow morning; it will come into operation upon proclamation. ACMA has the power to determine a process of dealing with applications as they are received even if it is down to the last second. So, whether it is theoretical or not, I am very confident that ACMA will be able to have processes in place that will enable it to deal with the process and how these applications are received. It is certainly the intent of the amendments to give ACMA that power to be able to deal with notifications in order of receipt. It certainly already has the power to determine any process that is required in order to be able to deal with applications as they are received.