House debates Questions to the Speaker

Question Time

Thursday, 2 June 2011 House of Representatives

Christopher Pyne

Christopher Pyne Sturt, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education, Apprenticeships and Training

4:00 pm

Mr Speaker, I ask you to review the record of question time with a view to examining the answer by the Leader of the House in which you asked him to conclude his answer at least 30 seconds before the end of his answer and when he sat down. I think that is a serious matter of defiance of the chair. If you ask a minister to conclude their answer and sit down, they should do so immediately without continuing to debate. I ask you to review the tape and then indicate whether you will take any action against the Leader of the House.

Harry Jenkins

Harry Jenkins Speaker

4:01 pm

The member for Sturt is well aware of my policy that I am not inclined to review tapes, although he would be interested that I have reviewed some of the tapes of this week independently. The time to deal with these matters is when they occur. The member for Sturt has made some sort of point and it is on the record. I will leave it at that.