Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Hansard source

This issue's come up before. In a nutshell, when it comes to both questions and answers, the Speaker is not the arbiter of the truth—can't be. That's a matter that can be addressed by the person responding to the question. In allowing the question to go ahead, the Speaker does not verify the factual accuracy of the question or, for that matter, the answer. There's been a 30-second question. If it's felt that it contains factual inaccuracies, there are three minutes now for that to be responded to, and I've addressed that before, as did Speaker Andrew in some detail many years ago. I should point out the member for McEwen is warned, of course. I just should point out, of course, that, through the course of the answer, the Prime Minister is entitled to address all of those matters and when these sorts of questions are allowed there shouldn't, as I indicated earlier, be complaints with the answer itself. The Prime Minister has the call.

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