Allegra Spender (Wentworth, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Many constituents complain to me that question time is 'question time', not 'answer time'. That is driven by the standing orders that don't actually force real answers from the government. They say to me that it means that we don't hold the government to account in the same way that they expect us to in this House. I ask the Prime Minister: have you considered reforming question time to give a greater expectation of answers and a narrowing of relevance so we can get better answers in this House?

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

I will see if the Leader of the House—that was a job I used to have—might want to add to the answer. One of the things that has improved, I think, from the reforms in the parliament while I was Leader of the House is the limit on time. That wasn't always the case. There's a limit on time in asking the question and in answering the question as well.

One of the things you might notice, Member for Wentworth, as I draw your attention to the time on the clock, is that one of the things I have done is not shut down question time after an hour. Indeed—

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

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

If those opposite want me to shut it down in an hour, I will take that on board. But what I have done is take, on average, questions every single day I'm here. Every single day all my ministers are here. We are actually the most accountable parliament in the world. If I speak about parliaments in the G20, President Prabowo has not answered a question and Prime Minister Modi has not answered a question. In the United Kingdom, with the Westminster system upon which we're based, there's Prime Minister's question time for one hour once a week, and the questions are on notice. There is no parliament in the world in which a government is more accountable than this government—Australian governments of both persuasions. That is just a fact across the board. One of the things that we do is make sure, as well, that we've ensured that standing orders have been amended so that the crossbenchers get a fair crack. That's something that we have done. This question is an example of that.