Senator CONROY (Victoria—Leader of the Government in the Senate, Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister on Digital Productivity) (14:28): I thank the senator for his questions. The role of parliament in establishing underpinnings for regulatory frameworks for journalism has been a hot topic in this chamber for a couple of days. Mr President, you may remember the very famous news headline that came up recently in the Daily Telegraph. Some of you may be familiar with it. You may have even got my autograph on it by now. But I regret to inform the chamber that overnight a new villain has to be added to this list of despots, and his name is Mr David Cameron, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, who has rolled over to a Stalinist-type regime and introduced a statutory underpinning for a self-regulatory framework. In fact, it is not even self-regulatory; he has established a completely independent of the proprietors press council. So, if a conservative Prime Minister— Honourable senators interjecting— The PRESIDENT: Order! Shouting across the chamber is disorderly. I remind you, Senator Brandis is entitled to be heard in silence. Senator Brandis: Mr President, I rise on a point of order on relevance. On the question of direct relevance, the question was limited to the powers of the Public Interest Media Advocate. It cannot be directly relevant to that question to be commenting on what the government of the United Kingdom may or may not have done overnight. Senator Jacinta Collins: Mr President, of course what occurs in the UK can be relevant! Honourable senators interjecting— The PRESIDENT: Order on my right! When there is silence on both sides we will proceed. The minister has been going for one minute and eight seconds and still has 52 seconds remaining. I am listening closely to the minister's answer and I remind the minister of the question. Senator CONROY: Thank you, Mr President. The question of Mr Kim Williams's testimony of whether or not the Public Interest Media Advocate's powers are objective or subjective has been debated all around the world. In Ireland they have had this very debate. I was interested to read the views of Michael McNiffe, then editor of the News Ltd publication, the Irish Sunon the Irish Press Council. He said that the Irish Press Council is independent of the governments and will be accessible to everyone, so people will not need to go to lawyers if they feel they have a complaint about newspapers. Senator Brandis: Mr President, on a point of order with only 12 seconds left for him to answer, the minister has told us about the United Kingdom legislation and he has told us about the Irish legislation. He was asked a question about the Australian legislation, a question specifically limited to the question of the Public Interest Media Advocate's powers. Can I respectfully submit that you should direct him to the question he was asked and to bring him back to Australia? The PRESIDENT: The minister has 12 seconds remaining. The minister should come to the question. Senator CONROY: Mr President, the objective test versus the subjective test has been debated all around the world, which includes countries like the United Kingdom and Ireland, and it even includes the US. (Time expired)