On 15 September 2016, the Senate referred the Australian Broadcasting Corporation Amendment (Rural and Regional Advocacy) Bill 2015 to the Senate Environment and Communications Legislation Committee for inquiry and report by 30 November 2016.
The bill was also referred to the committee in 44th Parliament and an interim report was presented on 5 May 2016. The inquiry lapsed at the dissolution of the Senate on 9 May 2016.
The due date for new submissions is 30 September 2016. The committee will also refer to submissions received in the 44th Parliament. This means that submissions already provided to the committee do not need to be re-submitted. However, the committee will consider additional information provided by submitters to the previous inquiry.
On 7 November 2016 the Senate granted an extension of time to report until 8 February 2017.
On 7 February 2017 the Senate granted an extension of time to report until 22 March 2017.
On 20 March 2017 the Senate granted an extension of time to report until 31 March 2017.
On 31 March 2017, the Senate granted an extension of time to report until 13 April 2017.