Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Hansard source

Without rereading everything I read into the Hansard the other day, the point made was that the sub judice convention is a restriction on debate which the Senate imposes upon itself. The convention is interpreted and applied by the chair and by the Senate according to circumstances. On that basis, I only have the option to rule something out of order, not whether something is an appropriate answer to a question. There has been no point of order raised with respect to these questions. I don't think a point of order would be relevant to them. However, I cannot direct the minister how to answer a question. There is a time after question time and on other occasions in this parliament to debate the content of ministers' answers, but just as I am not free, Senator Wong, to assert that something is out of order when it is in order, I'm not free to force a minister to answer a question in a particular fashion. We go to a final supplementary question from Senator Watt.