Stephen Parry (President) Share this | Hansard source

Earlier today, Senator Bernardi asked me about a ruling made in 1950 by President Brown that:

… it is not permissible to quote from newspapers, books or periodicals when asking questions.

and referred me to pages 638 to 639 of Odgers’ Australian Senate Practice. That ruling was reaffirmed by later presidents in the late 1960s and early 1970s, with President Cormack justifying it on the basis that:

Questions should be brief so that as many as possible may be asked within the time allotted.

Odgers concludes with the point that:

In practice the chair exercises a discretion and may allow a senator to make a quotation to the extent necessary to make the question clear.

That remains the current practice.

However, I would remind senators that some things have changed since the 1950s. In particular, the asking of questions without notice is now limited by quite short time limits and so there is less risk of senators artificially extending the asking of questions by padding them out with lengthy quotations. Use of a brief quotation may well assist a senator to ask a question economically within the current short time limit. This is clearly a factor that may influence a chair in exercising discretion to permit brief quotations to the extent necessary to make the question clear.

I remind all senators that standing orders and associated rulings are for the purpose of facilitating the conduct of business and debate and the fair and equitable participation of all senators in the proceedings of the Senate.