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

Mr President, on the point of order originally raised by Senator Abetz, can I indicate at the outset that Senator Abetz appeared to be relying on 73(1)(h), which indicates that the question should not call for an expression of opinion. However, in looking at the letter of standing order 73, this chamber has not stuck to that for a long time, as evidenced by questions from the opposition over many years. But there is an ability to express the question more broadly rather than to simply confine it. In addition to that, if I couple it with the second part of Senator Brown's question, Senator Wong in answering can answer that part of the question which she is able to, even ruling out under 73(1)(h) that part which calls for an opinion. The question was quite long and covered a significant amount of territory.