Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Hansard source

The bad temper of members opposite began with a perfectly reasonable ruling by you. Just to indicate how reasonable your rulings were in respect of questions directed to the Special Minister of State, let me refer the House to page 545 of House of Representatives Hansard, at which it says:

Questions critical of the character or conduct of other persons must be in writing. Although this rule is generally applied to named persons, it has also been applied to unnamed, but readily identifiable, persons. Such questions may, however, be placed on the Notice Paper. The purpose of the rule is to protect a person against criticism which could be unwarranted. A question in writing...

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