Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

The critical issue here—and there is no reference to the quotes I gave from Practice to it being different depending on whether or not you have stated the question—is that the call goes alternately from the government side to the opposition side. What the member for Corangamite has just described is how the standing orders apply during question time. Practice, on page 432, makes it absolutely clear that we are debating each portfolio. If the minister seeks to engage in that debate, then that may well be the call you give for the government. But the fact that you have given the call to whomever you have chosen on the government side means the next call must come to the opposition, otherwise the reference I gave in Practice is being completely ignored. This is no small issue. It goes to whether or not, in Consideration in Detail, this House will continue the practice of the opposition being given equal time to the government. We accept that that is not how question time works—we do not love it, but no opposition ever has—but Practice is clear that we are debating when we are up here right now, and, with respect, Mr Deputy Speaker, if you are giving consecutive calls to government members, whether they be ministers or backbenchers, then Practice is not being followed.

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