Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I refer you to House of Representatives Practice and note that it states that, in relation to answers to questions, it has been a tradition of this place that question time goes for a set period of time, normally to the point of 3.30 pm. The trade-off for having a set period of time for question time is that answers can go for as long as the minister chooses. The alternative practice has been that answers are of a limited duration and there are a set number of questions. I would ask you to report back to the House on what has been the set procedure over the length of question time in the last 20 years.

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