Mitch Fifield (Victoria, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Bernardi, I can't help you because the wording in Senator Hanson-Young's amendment is not the wording that is in our explanatory memorandum and is not the wording that is in our criteria. Our criteria, in relation to that, are much broader. In our explanatory memorandum, where we talk about an independence test, we say that it not be:

… affiliated with a political party, union, superannuation fund, financial institution, non-government organisation or policy lobby group);

So we talk about affiliation, which is a much broader concept than that which is in Senator Hanson-Young's amendment. What Senator Hanson-Young is referring to by way of financial assistance I can't tell you because it's not our criteria and it's not in our EM.