Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Mackellar, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Veterans' Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, my question relates to an answer given by the Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs earlier today. The answer, by any clear definition, was a statement to the House and it ought to have been made at the end of question time and it ought to have been able to be responded to by her opposite number, the member for Warringah. I would ask, Mr Speaker, if you would consider—

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Regrettably, I talked about consistency earlier in the week and I am not going to respond to that question because I really do think that members should only be putting questions about administrative matters to the Speaker and that those matters should be taken up with me at the time. I remind the member for Mackellar that the response from the minister was in fact a response to a question that she raised, and it would have been inappropriate for her to ask it to be made via a ministerial statement. There was a point of order raised by her on relevance, which is really the only point of order that can be raised about a question. I ruled that the question was in order—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Mackellar, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Veterans' Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I was referring to the very long statement that the minister made in answer to a question from another member, which by any definition was a statement to the House.

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I apologise if I got my wires crossed. The member for Mackellar should have raised this with me at the point it occurred, but if she had raised it I would have said that the question asked of the minister was in order and that the response was to the question and was in order. I appreciate that there are varying views about whether responses to questions enter into being ministerial statements, but in any case we are coming to a collision regarding ministerial statements, given that there will be another couple today.