Richard Di Natale (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I have a question relating to the negotiation that took place on the basis of the changes to the ABC Act. I reckon I have been here for six years and I do not think I have ever seen, in return for support for a piece of government legislation, a government respond by saying it would introduce a separate, completely unrelated, piece of legislation, as is the case here with the changes to the way the ABC conduct their board meetings.

I am interested as to whether this sets a new precedent, that from now on when we are here discussing any piece of legislation it is quite possible that in the committee stage we will be talking about completely unrelated bits of legislation in return for crossbench support. If so, the sky is the limit. Could you please explain whether this is now a precedent for trying to negotiate changes through the crossbench?