Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the Manager of Opposition Business for raising this important issue. He refers to the resolution adopted on 29 September 2010 on page 131 of standing orders. The first point I'll make is that questions to me are about administrative matters around the parliament. So the running of the House or the Department of Parliamentary Services does not fit into that category. You're asking me a question about the interpretation of a resolution and what actions or powers I have. You quoted the resolution, but you left out a very important part of the resolution, which, for members of the House, I will update. That says:

(3) If a response has not been presented in the required time and an explanatory statement has not been presented and questions on the statement not answered to the satisfaction of the committee, the committee may bring the matter to the attention, if appropriate, of the Auditor-General for assistance in resolving matters referred to in the report or to the Speaker for assistance in resolving the response process.

So the critical part of that resolution is 'the committee'. What you've done is not in line with the resolution. I'm not sure if you're aware of that or whether you just wanted to raise this and used this as an opportunity to raise that. That's certainly not allowed under the standing orders. But I have been generous to the manager to enable this issue to be ventilated. Just for moving forward, so all members know, if you're concerned about this, the first port of call would be the committee, by resolution, in writing. Then I may come into the course of action, but only after that.

See this speech in context