Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Hansard source

The Leader of the Opposition will resume his seat. The level of interjections continues to be too high. I say to all members that if they examine my earliest rulings on this topic from my first two weeks in the chair, they will see that I have asked that, with direct relevance, although it is a difficult issue for the chair, provided the answers are on the policy topic and the question was about tax; it was a short question—

Honourable members interjecting—

No, I am sorry; I am not going to have members interject when I am addressing the House. If they do not want me to address the matter, we will simply move on. I am really not going to. I know passions run high, but I have made my position clear on this on numbers of occasions. The question was about tax policy, and I have made clear that, provided the answer is on that topic—and I have also made clear that those answering questions are able to compare and contrast within their answer. The Prime Minister has the call.

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