DOCUMENTS

Senator McALLISTER (New South Wales—Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme) (10:07): I indicate that, whilst Minister Farrell would ordinarily represent the Minister for Communications in this place, Minister Farrell is otherwise engaged in ministerial business, and I am attending in his place. I thank the chamber for their understanding. I would first note that in his letter to the Chair of the Environment and Communications Legislation Committee Mr Jim Betts, the Secretary of the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts, expressed that the department and its officials take their obligations as public servants and to the parliament very seriously.

That correspondence explains that at the 14 August 2026 committee hearing, department officials provided evidence consistent with their understanding at the time, informed by advice from the authors of the Age assurance technology trial report, Age Check Certification Scheme, ACCS, in the days prior. I reiterate today the secretary's assertions that department officials made representations to the committee based on information available at the time that was honestly and reasonably held, following assertions made by the ACCS.

Following the hearing, the department conducted a detailed review of the concerns and has since published a corrigendum from the ACCS correcting the reference errors. I would, however, make clear that the identified reference errors do not materially affect the substance of the report and do not undermine the credibility of the report's conclusions. They are isolated to section D.16, which discusses potential future age-estimation techniques that remain in early stages of development.

None of these potential techniques were tested as part of the trial, and the commentary in this section is speculative. Further to this, the reference errors have no bearing on the eSafety Commissioner's social media minimum age regulatory guidance. The guidance directly references findings from the report on 12 occasions, none of which refer to part D section D.16.

I would also note that the minister's team has offered to brief Senator Payman on the relevant material. I understand that that offer has not been taken up at this point. It may be helpful to the Senate if these matters were able to be dealt with efficiently and effectively outside the chamber.