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

I will just follow up on that. It appears that Senator Xenophon has not had the opportunity to look at the impact of the amendment in detail. I wonder whether he would still be comfortable signing off on a piece of legislation when he is not fully aware of the ramifications for the ABC, in particular the issue of challenging the independence of the ABC, which clearly this amendment does, and whether he would consider waiting until the Senate estimates process to get a gauge from the ABC as to the level of their concern. As Senator Xenophon says, we cannot be sure—given this amendment was something that was negotiated in secret with Senator Leyonhjelm and we have not had the opportunity to discuss it with the ABC—so is Senator Xenophon prepared to hold off on his support for this legislation until such time as we get some confidence that this is not a significant challenge to the independence of the ABC?