Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

On the point of order, Mr President, as you have ruled and your predecessors have ruled regularly, it is not for the chair to determine precisely how a question should be answered; it's for the chair to uphold the standing orders in terms of the direct relevance of an answer, and, of course, that direct relevance can go to type of policy considerations and other things Senator Watt has said would not be relevant. It is not the case that just because a question asks for a particular number that other relevant policy and issues associated with such data or facts would not also be directly relevant. Clearly, they would be.