Senator CONROY (Victoria—Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister on Digital Productivity) (14:14): They have brought in the big guns—sorry, Senator Birmingham. The Australia Network is a core element of Australia's overseas broadcasting network and a major public diplomacy platform. It makes a significant contribution to the promotion and protection of Australia's national interests. The Gillard government is determined to ensure the Australia Network has a strong and effective operator that will advance our national interests. The tender process was terminated on legal advice that it was compromised by the leaking of information confidential to the process. I would like to emphasise that at all times the government has acted within the terms and conditions of the tender process. For the benefit of the Senate it is worth again explaining both how the Australia Network has come to this point and the absolute priority of the government's actions at every stage of the process. The government announced that it would conduct— Senator Brandis: Mr President, I rise on a point of order. The point is that the minister is not being directly relevant to the question. He was asked whether the government had sought legal advice about one matter—that is, the potential exposure of the Commonwealth to a liability and damages at the suit of the tenderers. He has referred to other legal advice on a different matter. He is now proposing to rehearse the history of the tender. He has not approached or gone near the question he was asked. Senator Chris Evans: There is no point of order. Senator Conroy has been giving a direct and full answer to the question asked of him. The question went to the tender process and the legal issues associated with it, and Senator Conroy has been directly relevant to those questions and is putting in context the issues of the legal advice to the government in dealing with the tender process. He is directly on the point and has about 50 seconds to go to complete his answer, which will be a full answer to the question asked of him. The PRESIDENT: I have listened to the minister's answer very carefully. I believe the minister needs to address the question that has been raised. Senator CONROY: The government announced that it will conduct an open tender process for the Australia Network in November last year, and, as is normal practice for these matters, placed an official public notification of the tender on AusTender on 4 February of this year. Tenderers were given until 25 March to respond. The tenders were considered by an independent panel of government officials in a process which, again—as is normal practice for such a large tender—took several months. Senator Abetz: Mr President, I draw your attention to the sessional orders that were changed some three years ago now and which required ministers to be directly relevant in answering questions. I would invite you to invoke that sessional order in relation to this answer. The PRESIDENT: I have already, in response to a previous point of order, drawn the minister's attention to the question, and I draw the minister's attention to the question again. The minister has 16 seconds remaining. Senator CONROY: Despite Senator Birmingham's assertion, I had no involvement in the development of the ABC's bid during this time. I had no involvement; neither was I briefed on it. I was confident on principle that the ABC's bid was strong— (Time expired)