Mark Dreyfus (Isaacs, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Attorney General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Special Minister of State. I refer to the minister's answers and statements in the House, and I refer to the claims made by James Ashby about the Assistant Minister for Innovation, where he said, 'he presented me a sheet of paper with instructions of what I should do, and one of the first steps was to get a copy of the office diary.' Was the minister aware of or did he have any input into drafting these instructions? Is conduct of this nature consistent with the standards of this government?

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker—

Mr Sukkar interjecting—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Deakin will cease interjecting.

Honourable members interjecting—

I refer all members to the statements that I have made about interjections when I am trying to hear points of order and trying to hear questions and answers. Let me make it abundantly clear again—I should not have to—that I will deal with any interjections very strongly. I am not going to have the House disrupted when I am trying to hear answers and hear points of order. I really do foreshadow that, if it continues, I will give ministers the option just to sit down. If I cannot hear the answer, parliament becomes unruly.

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I raise a point of order. The government has been very generous in terms of not taking points of order on the member for Isaacs's questions, but this question is impossible for the minister to answer, because how can he know what was in the mind of another member of parliament based on allegations made by a person who is not even a member of this House, about which the Special Minister of State has no specific knowledge and nor has he any responsibility?

Ms Kate Ellis interjecting—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Adelaide is warned.

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, on the point of order: the question goes directly to the awareness that the minister may or may not have had and is a way of further interrogating the previous answer that he gave.

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, this is where the Manager of Opposition Business has just exposed himself, because, quite frankly, it is not the job of the member for Isaacs to interrogate the Special Minister of State as though he were in a court of law in a case. In question time, in the parliament of the House, there are standing orders that govern questions and what a minister can be asked. As long as he can be asked matters that are within his ministerial responsibility or about which he has commented, as you pointed out before, they may well be in order. But a question like this, which is purely a fishing expedition, probably would not even be allowed in a court of law.

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Just to add to what I said previously, the final part of that question is, 'Is conduct of this nature consistent with the standards that this government applies?'

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have been very generous in the questions that I have allowed. That has been quite deliberate, because, as I said when I became Speaker, I want to see free-flowing debate, and that flows both ways. It is important that questions draw a connection. I have pointed that out. This question is stretching it further than other questions. The last point that the member for Watson made, I think, is a valid one. To me, that is the only part of the question that is in order. So I foreshadow now that, certainly, questions can be asked about previous answers, but that does not open up the possibility for the member for Isaacs or, for that matter, anyone else to simply refer to previous answers and then ask a question about a different event or subject. I will allow the minister, if he wishes, to answer just that last part of the question, which was about his ministerial responsibilities, if he can recall it.

Mal Brough (Fisher, Liberal Party, Special Minister of State) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am struggling to recall it.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Mal Brough (Fisher, Liberal Party, Special Minister of State) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You poor diddums! The last day of the parliament, and this is good as you get! If I am to understand the member for Isaacs, he is asking me to some make statement or some reflection on—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The minister will resume his seat. The member for Isaacs can just read the last part of the question. I gave a long ruling, and it is unfair to the minister. Just the last sentence of the question.

Mark Dreyfus (Isaacs, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Attorney General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Was the minister aware of—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No, that is not the last sentence, I don't think. I have asked you to read the last sentence. If you read any more than that, I will simply sit you down and move to the next question.

Mark Dreyfus (Isaacs, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Attorney General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Sorry. Is conduct of this nature consistent with the standards that this government applies?

Mal Brough (Fisher, Liberal Party, Special Minister of State) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is a strange question from the member for Isaacs.

Mr Bowen interjecting—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for McMahon will cease interjecting.

Mal Brough (Fisher, Liberal Party, Special Minister of State) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

He asked me to reflect on conduct about a document that I have never seen. I do not know what is contained in that document, and then I am to make a judgment upon it. That would seem to be the approach that the Member for Isaacs has taken for the last two weeks.

Ms MacTiernan interjecting—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Perth is warned.