Ms Celene Craig:

I thank the Senator. I am happy to address the issues. As I said earlier in response to Deputy Mythen's question, the numbers of staff and the make-up of that staff will ultimately be a matter initially at least for the Minister and her officials in the Department. Obviously, detailed exercises as time rolls out will be required by the media commission itself, having undertaken an extensive workforce planning exercise, as we would expect, to look at not just the numbers required but also the range of skills required.

Key to informing the ultimate number will be the final functions that are assigned to the media commission pursuant to the legislation. At this stage, we do know that those functions as envisaged in the Bill are fairly extensive, to say the least, and will require a very different level of staffing that currently applies to the BAI. Our operational numbers currently are around 36 full-time equivalents, but that number will increase. There will also be a requirement for incremental progression in the staffing of the media commission over time.