George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

I do not want to delay this, but I am advised that, in fact, industry supports the creation of the Communications Access Co-ordinator. You do have a very negative view of this I know, Senator Ludlam, but the reality is—as I keep trying to explain to you—this is an industry scheme, the efficacy of which depends to a very high degree on cooperation and indeed collaboration. And although it is theoretically possible, of course, that an occasion might arise where that spirit of collaboration or cooperation is absent, ordinarily we would not expect that to be the case. Ordinarily, we would expect the regulator and the service providers to be working together to ensure that the scheme works as well as it can be reasonably made to work. But, in those circumstances where they may be at odds with each other, and the service provider is of the view that an unreasonable view has been taken by the Communications Access Co-ordinator, then there is that right of appeal to the ACMA and beyond that to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, and beyond that to the Federal Court, as I have explained.