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

I will move it along. This legislation will allow a doubling of the advertising that SBS can broadcast between 6 pm and midnight every night. This will mean more ads during the shows that most people watch on SBS. This will mean more ads during the SBS World News, more ads during Insight, more ads during Dateline, more ads during the football and more ads during the cycling. There is a risk that it will lead to more programs being designed to fit around ads rather than the other way around.

As FreeTV said in their submission to the inquiry into this legislation by the Senate Environment and Communications Committee:

… the proposal to increase prime time advertising on the SBS equates to the introduction of a fourth commercial television broadcasting network by stealth.

When Mr Shorten asked the Prime Minister about this broken promise in question time, in November last year, Mr Abbott claimed it was not a broken promise. He claimed that it was not a cut. He said it was an 'efficiency dividend'. What weasel words. What mealy-mouthed weasel words from the Prime Minister. Mr Abbott took the Australian people for fools before the election, and he is continuing to take the Australian people for fools.

One person was not fooled—the Prime Minister's close and dear friend, Mr Turnbull! When the Minister for Communications went on Sky News and was asked if this was an efficiency dividend, this was his answer—and I ask everyone in this chamber, particularly our representative from Queensland to listen to what Mr Turnbull said. He told the truth. He said it was is not an efficiency dividend. So let's get this right—the Prime Minister of Australia, on the floor of parliament says it is an efficiency dividend, but the Minister for Communications goes on Sky News and says it is not an efficiency dividend. What do you call that? Somebody has to be telling a lie. I do not know—you can pick! Somebody is not telling the truth. Mr Turnbull did not finish there. He said:

This is not an efficiency dividend … certainly there are cuts.

So the Prime Minister says on the floor of parliament that there no cuts, and Mr Turnbull says there are cuts. Mr Acting Deputy President, you are very touchy today on the issue around whether someone tells a lie, and I can understand that you have to uphold the parliamentary processes, but those opposite have got nowhere to go on this, as you well acknowledge—nowhere to go. Mr Turnbull went on to say:

Certainly there are cuts. He said no cuts to the ABC or SBS—there are cuts to the ABC or SBS.

So the Prime Minister says there are no cuts, and Malcolm Turnbull says that the Prime Minister said there would no cuts to the ABC or SBS. Well, there are cuts to the ABC and SBS. There are the facts. No wonder the good Queensland senator from the coalition wants to stand up and try to interject, because he is trying to cover for the fact that—