Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Hansard source

I just say to the Prime Minister that it is not a question under that standing order of being asked for a withdrawal. That's not right. I'm very familiar with the standing order. I say to the Prime Minister that saying he is not going to withdraw is very unhelpful for the debate. I'm saying that is very unhelpful, when I'm seeking to rule. As it happens, on this occasion the point of order raised by the Leader of the Opposition would not warrant a withdrawal because there's a specific standing order. But I'm making the general point: if the chair does ask for a withdrawal, then that has to happen.

Now, I'm going to rule on the standing order. This is a problematic standing order, as I've said before. This was introduced in 2013 by the then Leader of the House. And what that standing order essentially says is that if a claim has been made and a personal explanation has been taken, that claim cannot be repeated. That is what that standing order says, and that is what former Prime Minister Abbott and former Leader of the House, Mr Pyne, introduced, citing a whole lot of instances in opposition. I will say I was in a different seat, where the Prime Minister at the time, then Leader of the Opposition, kept making personal explanations about health spending.

Frankly, when the standing order was introduced, I thought it was problematic. The then Speaker, Bronwyn Bishop, thought it was problematic and said so. But that standing order is there. What it requires, of course, is for the Speaker to have heard it and to have heard all the material. As it happens, I have heard that and so, under that standing order, I don't think that claim can be made again unless there's new information. The Prime Minister.

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