Sarah Hanson-Young (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I wish that Senator Hanson had some respect for the Australian taxpayer. She's wasting time in this place on personal vendettas, because she can't stand a genuine news service reporting on the dodgy operations within her own political party. That is what is going on here. Of course, we've heard the lunacy coming from Senator Roberts tonight: conspiracy theories about our public broadcasters. Thank goodness that the Australian public can see what a joke and a fraud One Nation are, because they trust the very real, quality journalism that comes out of our public broadcasters and the quality content in Australian shows made by our public broadcasters and shown on their services. They trust the ABC more than they trust Senator Hanson and One Nation.

The looming question, as we draw towards the close of the second reading speeches and head into the committee stage, is: what will the Nick Xenophon Team do here tonight? Voting for this piece of legislation allows this dirty deal with the devil that has been done between the Turnbull government and One Nation to whack hundreds of millions of dollars away, cripple the role of the ABC and shoot holes in ABC iview and SBS On Demand. That is what is before us. If the Nick Xenophon Team flick this through, they will be absolutely complicit in the attack on the ABC, SBS—our public broadcasters. It's hard to rationally argue that a deal done by this government with One Nation to pass this legislation is separate to one done by Nick Xenophon's party and the government. We all know what is on the table. Voting this through tonight means being complicit in whacking the ABC and SBS, and the public don't like it at all.