House debates Questions without Notice
Deputy Prime Minister
Tanya Plibersek Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition
2:07 pm
My question is to the Prime Minister. Does the claim by the Leader of the House that the Constitution allows a minister to keep their job for three months after being disqualified by the High Court reflect government policy?
Government members interjecting —
Tony Smith Speaker
The member for Sydney will resume her seat. Again, members on my right and someone on the left—I suspect the member for Solomon—are preventing me from hearing the question. I am going to ask the member for Sydney to repeat the question from the beginning, but I'm giving fair warning now that I'm not going to keep doing this without ejecting people.
Tanya Plibersek Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition
My question is to the Prime Minister. Does the claim by the Leader of the House that the Constitution allows a minister to keep their job for three months after being disqualified by the High Court reflect government policy? Is the government making this absurd argument now to ensure that the Deputy Prime Minister has all the benefits of office, because he is already campaigning for re-election in New England?
Tony Smith Speaker
The Prime Minister has the call. He can disregard the last part of the question, which was a political assertion.
Malcolm Turnbull Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister
2:09 pm
Thank you, Mr Speaker. It's interesting to be asked whether the Constitution reflects government policy. I can assure the honourable member that the government is very, very committed to upholding the Australian Constitution, and I hope they are too.
Mr Dreyfus interjecting—