Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Government Business in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

Mr President, on a point of order: it is an issue where the opposition and other senators are entitled to raise a point of order when they choose to. But, in this instance, we do not have a genuine attempt to raise a point of order; what we are now seeing is the opposition continually raising and restating the question and, in some instances, restating it differently from the way the original question was raised—which is impermissible—and then asking the minister to be relevant to that subsequently asked question, which is paraphrasing their first, which is not the case. The minister has been relevant to the question and is answering it in a way that provides certainty in this place and ensures that his answer is accurate rather than taking the paraphrased, restated question that the opposition have sought to raise.