Mark Dreyfus (Isaacs, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Attorney General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Is the Deputy Prime Minister the only member of cabinet the Prime Minister is powerless to take action against for breaching his ministerial standards? And is he powerless to act because of the terms of the Prime Minister's secret coalition agreement with the Deputy Prime Minister?

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Just before I call the Prime Minister: the reference to the coalition agreement is not within order, but the reference to the ministerial code is. The Prime Minister has the call.

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The honourable member's question contains within it the assumption or assertion that the Deputy Prime Minister is in breach of the ministerial standards. If the honourable member wishes to make that case, to make that allegation—and I invited him and his leader to do so yesterday—then he should do so. He should make that allegation and demonstrate the basis for doing so. In other words, the question is based on a false premise—or at least a premise that the honourable member has not bothered to establish.