House debates Questions without Notice
Maguire, Mr Daryl William
Richard Marles Corio, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Defence
2:54 pm
My question is to the Prime Minister. Did disgraced former New South Wales Liberal MP Daryl Maguire make any representations to the government about visas, including to you, Prime Minister?
Christian Porter Pearce, Liberal Party, Attorney-General
2:55 pm
The convention with respect to ministers being asked—
Unidentified interjection - Hansard doesn't record who said this
Hon. Members:
Honourable members interjecting—
Tony Smith Speaker
Would the Leader of the House just pause for a second. If you're both talking, I can't hear the Leader of the House.
Christian Porter Pearce, Liberal Party, Attorney-General
The Prime Minister, obviously, is able to be asked a broad range of questions with respect to a range of portfolios—indeed, all portfolios. There's also the convention that ministers need to be asked questions on their own portfolios. Now, if representations were made previously in time to a department and a minister in charge of that department, I think in the first instance that question would need to be directed to the minister in charge of that department.
Mr Tony Burke Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for the Arts
Speaker—
Tony Smith Speaker
No, I'm interested in hearing the point of order. I can see the Prime Minister saying he's happy to answer. Whilst he is, I still need to rule on whether the question is in order or not. I'll hear from the Manager of Opposition Business.
Mr Tony Burke Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for the Arts
Speaker, the question doesn't specify any portfolio. It simply asks whether representations were made to the government by disgraced New South Wales Liberal MP Daryl Maguire.
Mr Tony Burke Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for the Arts
The Leader of the House has presumed that the question refers to a specific point in time—
Tony Smith Speaker
No, I want you to just remind the House at least, so they know—as I'm ruling—that there was an additional part of the question.
Mr Tony Burke Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for the Arts
It was including whether he personally had.
Tony Smith Speaker
That's right. So, on that, I do want to rule. There are two things about the question. The bit about representations to the government generally—that can be asked. Whether that knowledge is reasonable to expect is another thing, to be frank—whether it's reasonable to know every aspect of every part of the government. What I was conscious of—and this is why I was listening to the Leader of the House so intently, because I'd formed a view and was listening closely—was that, if the question was going to the Prime Minister's previous portfolio responsibilities, that would be out of order. So what I'll say to the Prime Minister is that that is a very strong convention, and he was the minister for immigration several years ago. The only bit that is in order is the bit to him as Prime Minister, and the first part about other parts of the government—but I point out that it's not up to me whether it's reasonable or not to expect him to be able to answer that, but that's also why we have questions on notice. I'll call the Prime Minister.
Scott Morrison Cook, Liberal Party, Prime Minister
2:58 pm
It has been my long-established practice, both when I was previously a minister and, certainly, as Prime Minister—as Prime Minister you receive representations from many people in the community, including from those opposite, on many matters, including on those which the member has referred to, and it is my normal practice—for those matters, through my office, to be referred to the relevant department or my department for an appropriate response. That is the practice I have always followed.