Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Hansard source

In respect to the point that the Manager of Opposition Business just made about whether a comment that someone makes can automatically be asked about during question time: the reference to that in the Practice is specifically when it refers to a previous portfolio. That's on the basis that you can't ask someone about something other than their portfolio. You can only ask about a previous portfolio if they've made a statement on it. To say that if they make a statement on any policy at all it suddenly becomes open slather in question time. It would be a brand-new precedent that we've never had.

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