Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Hansard source

Members on my left will cease interjecting, or I am going to ask the Leader of the House to begin all over again. I have listened very carefully to the question. The Leader of the House makes a reasonable point—that most of the question, which took the entire 30 seconds, was quotations and not relevant to the Prime Minister. There was one very small aspect of the question that asked whether the statements reflected government policy. As the Prime Minister is responsible for government policy—I have tried to be consistent—I am going to rule the question in order. But I am flagging, as I have flagged before, that questions that are just completely out of order, apart from a very small number of words, I do not think are going to have a very long life under my speakership, because I think it is an abuse.

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