Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

The process will continue to be administered by the Foreign Affairs and Trade portfolio. The amended RFT will be released shortly and a decision on the preferred tenderer is expected to be taken by September 2011. Both tenderers will be given an equal and reasonable opportunity to respond to the additional criteria. The current contract between DFAT and the ABC expires on 8 August 2011. Accordingly, the government will exercise its option under the existing contract to extend the service operated by the ABC for six months until 8 February 2012. On the range of other issues, I addressed those questions in my earlier answer.