Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Hansard source

I refer to pages 554 and 555 of Practice. There are a number of occasions, and we've been through this a lot over the years and there are many precedents under Speaker Smith, where, if a question is asked about someone that goes to a period prior to them holding the portfolio, the first question that can only be asked is to refer to the quotation where as a minister they have reference back to it and to ask whether that is correct. Simply referring to it and then asking a different question—certainly, in our whole time in opposition, that never got it over the line. The first question always had to be providing the quotation exactly in line with that precedent, asking whether that was accurate and, then, subsequent questions could come based on the answer the minister had then given. That's the way it's worked here the whole way through.

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