Senate estimate hearings are among the most critical periods for government communications teams. While they occur multiple times each year, media interest is consistently high, and as a result, the stakes are higher when it comes to what makes headlines and how coverage is responded to.
Hearings can often take unexpected turns, and public inquiries can target a wide range of issues, including policies, operations, and budget expenditures, as well as specific politicians.
Discourse can turn adversarial, and media narratives can be shaped in a matter of hours.
This means that it’s key to be an active observer. But with so much noise in the news, what specifically should be observed?
Here are 5 key patterns and comms risk signals that every government comms team should track during Senate estimate hearings to stay ahead of both reputational problems and opportunities.
For better or for worse, Senate estimate hearings are live-streamed, live-blogged events. As a result, topics raised during hearings often appear in news headlines within minutes, typically anchored to the senator’s framing as initially received.
In the case of the 2025-26 Supplementary Budget Estimates, media mentions of the keyword “superannuation” reached a peak of 99 items on the first day it was mentioned in a hearing within Online, TV, Print, Radio, Podcast and Magazine content.
The conversation began with revelations that the Treasury was considering changes to its highly controversial proposal to impose a new tax on superannuation balances above $3 million. Spearheaded by Jim Chalmers, the Treasury estimated that around 0.5% of balances would be affected by this higher tax bracket. The proposal was met with immediate opposition from major outlets.
On the day it was raised at Estimates, one-third of media mentions occurred before 2 pm.
(Streem Data: Mentions of "superannuation" across Australian Print, Online, Radio, TV, Magazine, and Podcast from October 9-10, 2025.)
Traction on the topic began with this question from Senator McKim to Deputy Secretary of the Revenue Division, Diane Brown:
| "Has the Prime Minister's office been in touch with Treasury with respect to this legislation?"
After Brown confirmed that this was, in fact, the case, the narrative shifted to one that was suspicious of the likelihood that the proposal would go ahead. Headlines like the one below began to appear:
| “PM steps in as Treasury models changes to $3m superannuation tax”
Ultimately, the flow of these hearings can be anticipated to some degree, but narratives evolve alongside curveball questions and can often become news without follow-up context.
For government comms teams, tracking the speed at which headlines are born is key to gauging media interest. Then, follow-up is a priority.
Another important takeaway is the speed at which media types pick up these stories and how long practitioners have to add detail to the narrative before it is cemented. The topic of superannuation, for example, was picked up by TV stations just 1 hour after it was raised at the hearing - followed by Radio and then Online sources, which provided deeper analysis.
(Streem Data: Mentions of "superannuation" across Australian Print, Online, Radio, TV, Magazine, and Podcast from October 9-10, 2025.)
With the bulk of senator inquiries taking the form of policy questions, there are many sectors with opinions on the proceedings.
Even indirect references to a sector can spark follow-up coverage and commentary, which can balloon into separate narratives or mould the existing one.
Where MPs may attempt to avoid these references, they cannot control what is mentioned during others’ questions and commentary, making Senate Estimates a key media risk window for comms teams managing these sector relationships.
In these most recent 2025-26 hearings, for example, the Federal Minister for Trade claimed that Australia was in a “golden age” for critical minerals while working to secure a deal with the U.S. During the conversation, several sectors were mentioned, including data centres, AI, and copper mining.
While it is wise to be wary of stakeholder communications after hearings have concluded, there are also opportunities during Estimates for comms teams to get ahead of new stakeholders that have yet to be identified and to gauge the future behaviour of existing stakeholders.
Questions asked at Estimates are often early indicators of future scrutiny, policy pressure or media interest, even before formal announcements.
During the 2025-26 Supplementary Budget Estimates, for instance, two questions were raised about the government’s First Home Loan Guarantee program. First, whether it could feasibly raise property prices; and second, whether it will encourage first-home buyers to take on riskier loans.
The question itself, as well as the ensuing media coverage, illuminated underlying risks to public confidence. 61 media items across major Online, TV, Print, Radio, Podcast and Magazine sources focused on the program over the succeeding 2 days according to Streem data.
One of the most volatile aspects of Senate Estimates media coverage is sentiment. Due to the live-blogged nature of coverage, stories can enter the media cycle with balanced sentiment and deteriorate or improve over hours or days as additional details or voices are added. Even if there are no additions, the same can occur.
Issues tend to be introduced in either an adversarial or procedural tone of voice during hearings. Which approach is taken when an issue is raised heavily influences how that issue will enter media coverage, as well as whether it is voices or policies that are spotlighted.
In the 2025-26 Estimates, Environment Minister Murray Watt announced that it was very unlikely that a "climate trigger" would be used within Australia's new environmental laws, which would require the Federal Government to intervene in any projects that may exacerbate the rate of climate change.
The announcement was received with suspicion by the questioning senator, who accused Watt of 'cherry-picking' recommendations from Professor Graeme Samuel, who conducted the Second Independent Review of the EBPC Act.
In this instance, the 'loudest' part of this story was an apparent accusation that the Environment Minister was leaning away from legislation that would offer more climate protections - legislation supported by environmental and climate action groups like the Australian Conservation Foundation and Climate Council.
Although adversarial, the conversation around this 'climate trigger' trended more positive than negative in terms of the number of media items created because of the stakeholders its removal would benefit. Headlines appeared like the one below:
| "Environment law overhaul could save $450m to $7bn, Minister says"
This example goes to demonstrate the volatility of sentiment during this time and it does not always mirror the tone taken by senators.
The final pattern for government comms teams to be aware of during Estimates is, of course, which people have the loudest voices before, during and after discussion on an issue, as the media tends to amplify whichever Senator’s framing lands strongest on the floor.
When Sussan Ley contested the Albanese government’s contentious FOI (Freedom of Information) bill amendments, she explained it was to “defend the principles of openness and accountability that are essential to a healthy democracy.”
By using universally agreed-upon themes, she was able to steer the conversation and shape narrative pressure for a wide audience, most likely hearing about these amendments for the first time and uninformed about their intentions.
According to Streem data, media outlets most interested in the FOI discussion were based in Canberra, followed by Perth. In 2023, the ABC reported that WA was facing an "influx of Freedom of Information requests" to obtain public records. In some cases, up to double the standard number of applications.
(Streem Data: Mentions of "FOI" across Australian Print, Online, Radio, TV, Magazine, and Podcast sources from October 7-17, 2025.)
While it is impossible to anticipate 100% accurately the topics, sectors, names, and issues raised in Senate Estimates, the government comms teams that monitor for these patterns will be able to respond most effectively to fast-changing narratives that may require careful interpretation and intervention.
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