Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Hansard source

I'd just say to the Leader of the House: it's not up to me to judge what was in or not in the media. I only judge questions. I'm not going to bring a media summary in with me.

With respect to his point of order: the Practice makes it very clear on reflections. They really generally have to be direct reflections on particular members of parliament, and I think you'd find precedent questions of this nature have been asked before. Obviously, it was a long question—the full 45 seconds worth. I'll allow the question. I'll just say to the member for Melbourne: given the amount of preamble commentary and the nature of the 45-second contribution that wasn't all a question, the Prime Minister has extreme latitude in how he wishes to answer it. I call the Attorney-General—and, as I said, Attorney, that same latitude applies.

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