Angus Taylor (Hume, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Will the Prime Minister condemn his close personal friend Daniel Andrews attending the Chinese Communist Party military parade alongside the presidents of Russia, North Korea and Iran?

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Prime Minister has got to be asked questions he's directly responsible for.

Opposition members interjecting—

There are some difficulties with the question falling within the standing orders. If you think about it to its logical conclusion, it could be asked about any Australian. But I'm going to hear from the Leader of the House to assist.

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have a point of order. The fundamental role for questions is that they have to be something that the Prime Minister is officially connected with. By definition and the way that was framed, he said it's not.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

If we could have the question—alright, I'll hear from the Manager of Opposition Business.

Alex Hawke (Mitchell, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Industry and Innovation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The point of order is that the Prime Minister is officially connected with Australia, and he is the Prime Minister.

Honourable members interjecting—

Yes. That's an official connection. So we've invited him to condemn a former premier attending a foreign affairs rally, and that's the point of order.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Okay. The Prime Minister looks like he's indicating that he's okay to answer the question. I was going to ask the member to rephrase, but this is a bit of a learned lesson for everyone. If we make the question directly relevant to someone's responsibilities, that would help the House.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I think that point of order said it all about the question. I'm responsible for the Australian government, the Australian government did have a representative there, and the Australian government did have a representative 10 years ago. That was a minister in the government. Our government chose that that would not be the case.