Andrew Wallace (Speaker) Share this | Hansard source

I have actually done some of my own homework on this particular issue and there has been quite a difference of opinion by Speakers throughout recent years on this issue about alternatives. It is a very challenging area. A lot of Speakers have spoken in the past about how difficult it is to rule on these things. Some Speakers have previously refused or disallowed any part of the question that has those taglines at the end of them. That hasn't been the practice of the Speaker immediately before me in relation to alternative approaches or alternative policies. It does not then give the member answering the question carte blanche to undertake a gratuitous character assessment. That has been the approach of Speaker Smith. I'm happy to take the chamber through the many instances when he has found that, but I don't want to detain the House for an inordinate period. I believe that is the appropriate course, and I would ask the Treasurer to return to the substance of the question.

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