Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

Reluctantly, Mr Speaker. Just on indulgence, on the point made by the Leader of the Opposition, I would just direct you to page 263 of Practice which, under the heading 'Announcements of ministerial arrangements' says:

The Prime Minister from time to time informs the House of changes in the Ministry, of the absence or illness of Ministers, of any acting and representational arrangements that are made within the Ministry, and of changes—

And it goes on. Mr Speaker, as has been the practice over the course of this unusual period with COVID, the reality is that the Prime Minister has made arrangements for ministers who are unable to be here to be represented by ministers who are. That is the practice that's been adhered to, and the line today from the Leader of the Opposition that somehow there's been a deviation from that doesn't represent fairly what has been the case since the start of this COVID period.

See this speech in context