Senator FIFIELD (Victoria—Manager of Government Business in the Senate, Minister for Communications and Minister for the Arts) (14:39): I thank Senator Farrell for his question. Senator Farrell is right. The ABC morning program in Melbourne put in an FOI request to my department asking if there was any correspondence between my department and Foxtel prior to the budget announcement. My department, obviously, makes FOI decisions independently of myself and— The PRESIDENT: Point of order, Senator Farrell. Senator Farrell: I've stated that the FOI request returned no documents. My question relates to what conditions, if any, are attached to the grant of the $30 million, not to the FOI request. The PRESIDENT: Correct. That was the notion and the accuracy displayed in your question, but the minister, in fairness, has only gone a quarter into his answer and he is on topic. The minister has heard your point of order. Senator Farrell. Senator Farrell: On the point of order, you did request earlier in the week, President, that we give specific, direct questions. We've now asked one of those, and we would request a direction to the minister to answer that direct, simple question. The PRESIDENT: Thank you. I did say that your point of order was accurate. The minister is a quarter into his answer, and I did also say that the minister has heard your point of order. I call the minister. Senator FIFIELD: What I'm doing is speaking directly to the question and confirming what Senator Farrell has said, for the benefit of my colleagues, that the FOI request was confirmed by the department. There were no documents, in terms of correspondence, between my department and Foxtel prior to the budget announcement. There's nothing unusual about that. The PRESIDENT: Point of order, Senator Wong. Senator Wong: Direct relevance, Mr President. He's now wasted a minute and a bit telling us what we know and not answering the question. Will the minister now tell the Senate what conditions, if any, are attached to this $30 million? It's the only question. Stop avoiding it, Minister. The PRESIDENT: On the point of order, Senator Fifield. Senator FIFIELD: On the point of order, I still have 53 seconds to go. If a question is asked and the basis of the question is an FOI request, I am entirely entitled to— Honourable senators interjecting— Senator Wong: Why are you so nervous about telling us— The PRESIDENT: Order! Ignore the interjections. Address your remarks to me, Senator Fifield. Senator FIFIELD: I'm just trying to speak without being interrupted— Opposition senators interjecting— The PRESIDENT: Order on my left! Senator Wong interjecting— Senator FIFIELD: I'm trying to speak without being interrupted. We have the constant interjections from Senator Wong as I am trying to speak. They were there also in my first minute. The more they interject, the longer it will take me to get to the next point. The PRESIDENT: On the point of order, I will remind the minister of the question, as he has now exceeded half the time allocated for the answer to the question. I remind the minister of the question. Minister, you have the call. Senator FIFIELD: Thank you, Mr President. Now, what I was going to move to next, after having made that point, is that my department is negotiating, with Fox Sports, a funding deed, which will have milestones and will have those things that are required in order to satisfy the obligations for receiving that particular support in the budget measure. I go back to where I started: there's nothing unusual, in the budget context, in that there is no correspondence between the department and stakeholders. The announcement was made in the context of the budget and, as I've indicated, there is a funding deed being negotiated—as you would expect and is common practice—when there is a grant. The PRESIDENT: Senator Farrell, a supplementary question.