Catryna Bilyk (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

My apologies to you, Mr Deputy President. I know that you are a very civil man, unlike quite a few others on the other side.

We know that satellite television is the way that many millions of people get to view their television these days, so it is very important that we get this process right. My colleague Senator Crossin was talking about the process before, and I will just reiterate it because those on the other side do not seem to be able to get it to sink in. In November 2010 the government announced the open tender process for the rights to conduct Australia's international TV operation for the next decade for a maximum of $223 million over the 10 years. I think I heard Senator Humphries say yesterday—if it is incorrect to attribute this to Senator Humphries, I apologise in advance—that he did not think that was that much money, or words to that effect. But $223 million of taxpayers' money is money that we are accountable for. So, in that accountability and responsibility process and in making sure that the taxpayers' money is spent appropriately, we have called in the AFP to investigate the leaks.

I do not know how much simpler it could be. I am happy to stand here for the next 50 seconds and keep saying it, but that is the simple issue around it. Tenders were submitted, as people know, and the process proceeded until quite recently, but there were significant leaks of confidential information to the media. So the tender process has been compromised, and compromised to such a degree that we obviously could not go forward. If we had gone forward once the process had been compromised, we would have had those on the other side all through question time today getting up asking questions about why we proceeded. We all know that all they want to do on that side of the chamber— (Time expired)