Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Hansard source

The Minister for Defence will resume his seat. I'd like to invite the Leader of the Opposition to resume his seat at this point and point out, as I did in the last few question times, that, when ministers are asked about alternative approaches, that really is a way in the standing orders to talk about alternative policies. In fact, the standing orders make clear that questions cannot ask directly about opposition policies, which is why that tag phrase has existed for a very long time. But I have tightened up on it. Just because you were asked about alternative approaches does not mean that you can embark on a character assessment. You're going to need to actually find an alternative policy approach that you can refer to that's relevant to the question that's been asked. I'd just say it's not curtailing debate. There are other forums of the House for exactly the sort of approach the minister was taking, and they're very open to him, but it's just not open in question time if it's not relevant to the question.

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