Sue Lines (President) Share this | Hansard source

Before I go to question time, yesterday I was asked to consider arguments put by Senators Wong and Birmingham. Yesterday, the Leader of the Government in the Senate, Senator Wong, asked me to consider rulings made in 2014 by President Hogg about the proper scope of questions at question time. The context involves a series of questions asked by opposition senators about statements made by the Minister for Finance, Senator Gallagher, including statements made before she was a minister. In a statement on 19 March 2014, President Hogg said:

… ministers must answer questions only insofar as the question relates to ministerial responsibilities—in other words, the public affairs with which the minister is officially connected, proceedings pending in parliament, or any matter of administration for which the minister is responsible in a personal or representative capacity. However, an answer may provide clarification of statements made by ministers—as ministers—even if the statements are not clearly within their ministerial responsibility.

This last point draws on an older ruling from President Sibraa that questions may ask for:

… clarification of statements made by ministers, even if the statements are not clearly within their ministerial responsibility.

Questions are not in order if they ask about statements made by senators when they were not ministers. Sometimes it is not clear whether a question is out of order on this basis. In these circumstances presidents have generally invited ministers to answer questions to the extent that they relate to ministerial responsibility. President Ryan took the view that even when a question was ruled out of order it was fair and reasonable to give the minister an opportunity to respond to any assertion contained in the question. That is the approach that I've adopted this week. If a question is ruled out of order but the minister accepts my invitation to respond, I'm not sure that the standing orders requiring that the answers be directly relevant strictly apply. However, ministers should confine their remarks to matters within their ministerial responsibilities.