Cybersafety Legislation

Fatima Payman

I move:

That the Senate—

(a) notes that:

(i) the Minister representing the Minister for Communications has failed to comply with order for the production of documents no. 284, agreed to on 26 November 2025, relating to the constitutional validity of Part 4A of the Online Safety Act 2021,

(ii) the Minister for Communications has made a claim of public interest immunity (PII) on the basis that releasing the documents sought by the order would prejudice the Commonwealth's position in the legal proceedings concerning the relevant provisions of the Act,

(iii) on page 662 of the 14th edition of Odgers' Australian Senate Practice, it is noted that, regarding PII claims made on the ground of prejudice to legal proceedings, '[a] case involving only questions of law before superior court judges is not likely to be influenced and therefore is unlikely to provide a basis for this ground', and

(iv) in advice incorporated into the Hansard of the Economics Legislation Committee on 2 June 1998, former Clerk of the Senate Harry Evans advised that '[t]he practice in the Senate is that debate or inquiry is avoided if it poses a real and substantial danger of prejudice to proceedings before a court where that danger is not outweighed by the public interest in free parliamentary debate or inquiry';

(b) rejects the Minister for Communications' PII claim, given the low risk of prejudice to ongoing legal proceedings relative to the public interest; and

(c) requires the Minister representing the Minister for Communications to comply with the order by no later than 5 pm on 6 February 2026.

Anthony Chisholm

by leave—I move:

Omit paragraphs (b) and (c).

Sue Lines

The question is that the amendment as moved by Senator Chisholm to general business notice of motion No. 326 standing in the name of Senator Payman be agreed to.