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

I asked a question previously of the minister, who appears to have refused to answer it, so I will ask this question of Senator Xenophon. It is regarding the ABC changes that have been proposed by Senator Leyonhjelm. I know that Senator Xenophon has been a strong defender of the independence of the ABC and the SBS, so I suppose a question for Senator Xenophon is whether he is aware that, as a consequence of his support for this legislation, we are going to see a direct threat to the independence of the ABC. Quite possibly, the government will need to issue written directions to the SBS and the ABC forcing them to change the way that they conduct their board meetings. As we know, the ABC fiercely guards its independence from governments—and rightly so. We know that there are potentially other aspects of this deal that would see the government taking a role in reforming suppression order regimes as well.

So I am interested in whether Senator Xenophon is aware that his support for this legislation may result in these quite significant changes to the ABC. As somebody who is on the record—I think quite rightly—as well as the Greens, in supporting the independence of the ABC, I would like to know whether he is comfortable that his support for this legislation will mean those significant changes to the ABC, or whether in fact he may be prepared to reconsider his position on those amendments.