House debates Questions without Notice
Prime Minister
Angie Bell Moncrieff, Liberal National Party, Shadow Minister for Youth
2:33 pm
My question is to the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister reportedly owns a multimillion-dollar investment property just 200 metres away from Marrickville Golf Club, where he holds an undisclosed honorary membership. Noting the Prime Minister's previous answers in this House, did the Prime Minister's decision to hand a $6 million grant to Marrickville Golf Club, to upgrade its clubhouse and remove the sewage stink, increase the value of his investment property down the road?
Mr Tony Burke Watson, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House
Mr Speaker, the standing order about imputations is there for exactly questions like this.
Dan Tehan Wannon, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction
To the point of order, I would like to make three points. One, the Prime Minister is responsible for the actions of this Albanese Labor government. At the very least, he is officially connected to the grants program, which is also part of standing order 98. Two, the Prime Minister has made statements about this matter in the House, which the Leader of the House well knows, and this opens the door for us to ask follow-up questions.
Ms Catherine King Ballarat, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government
You're dealing with a different point of order.
Milton Dick Speaker
Order! The minister for infrastructure, order! I want to hear from the manager.
Dan Tehan Wannon, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction
I just point you, Speaker, to the ruling that Speaker Smith gave on Thursday 15 February 2018:
Secondly, as we've seen before in this House, once a statement's been made, questions are asked about the statement and questions are then asked about previous answers. I think that opens the door for the question to be in order.
Three—I said I had three points—
Milton Dick Speaker
Order! The minister for infrastructure won't be here to hear the answer if she continues in that way. The manager is going to be heard in silence. He is entitled to raise a point of order. He said there are three points. We're going to hear his three points.
Dan Tehan Wannon, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction
Three, you have allowed multiple questions to be asked of the Prime Minister which referenced the Prime Minister's personal arrangements. You have allowed this because the questions have contained a hook to contemporary policy developments. I'd point you to examples on Thursday 14 May 2026 and Wednesday 24 June 2026. I make the point that it must be open to the House to question the motivation of ministers as well as the impact of government policies, wherever that impact may be. If you were to rule that questions cannot, strictly speaking, contain imputations or arguments then that would set a dangerous precedent. In summary, Speaker—
Unidentified interjection - Hansard doesn't record who said this
Hon. Members:
Honourable members interjecting—
Milton Dick Speaker
Order! Just get to the point. I don't want to delay question time anymore.
Dan Tehan Wannon, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction
We have to be allowed to ask questions which go to the credibility of the Prime Minister.
Mr Tony Burke Watson, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House
Mr Speaker, the risk of preparing a point of order in chapters is that you might respond to something different to the point of order that was made, and I think that's what we have here. Nothing that's just been raised there goes to the point of imputations, and the whole thing about whether or not a statement has been made public goes to the rule about asking a question about someone's previous portfolio, which would only be relevant if this was a question about 2013.
Milton Dick Speaker
I'll get the manager to state what that question was when he was asked.
Dan Tehan Wannon, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction
Sorry, Speaker?
Milton Dick Speaker
We need to know the context. What was the question that the ruling was made on?
Dan Tehan Wannon, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction
The question? My question is to the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister—
Unidentified interjection - Hansard doesn't record who said this
Hon. Members:
Honourable members interjecting—
Milton Dick Speaker
No, I'll deal with this; I just want the question that Speaker Smith ruled on. What was the question?
Dan Tehan Wannon, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction
The question that Speaker Smith ruled on?
Dan Tehan Wannon, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction
It was—
Dan Tehan Wannon, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction
All right, I will. It was from Mr Dreyfus, deputy manager of opposition business:
My question is to the Deputy Prime Minister—and I refer to his previous answers. In addition to over $5,000 of taxpayers' money, did Mr Maguire's business receive any more taxpayers' money because any of the more than 80 attendees were booked to stay at the hotel that was selected by the government to host the event?
Milton Dick Speaker
That's an excellent addition to the issue we're dealing with. It's not the same question that was asked to the Prime Minister. I'm just trying to make the point—
Order, the member for Cook. There was not a motivation in that question. It was just simply a straight question. This is—
Unidentified interjection - Hansard doesn't record who said this
Hon. Members:
Honourable members interjecting—
Milton Dick Speaker
No-one's impugning any motives there; I'm just going to deal with this. Yes, the manager is correct, and he can raise this. I'm just not happy with the type of questioning that we're seeing impugning motive on any member. I'm going to allow the question, but I'm just asking for a bit of leeway for everyone here. If you've got a question, ask it responsibly. Linking it to someone's personal arrangements is not a path we want to go down. It is not a path that any member wants—
Order, the member for Moncrieff; you've asked your question. To assist the House, I think we need to stick to the principles of the standing orders—not necessarily impugning anyone's motive. Prime Minister.
Anthony Albanese Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister
2:39 pm
That wasn't so much a question as a smear, and its imputations are completely false. The opposition, of course, made election commitments worth $1.6 billion—over a thousand of them. We're happy to go through them.
Milton Dick Speaker
Has the Prime Minister concluded his answer? The member for Canberra has the call.
Order! The member for Goldstein will leave the chamber under 94(a).
The member for Goldstein then left the chamber .
We are bringing this back to order. We are simply not going to have a free-for-all. When I call on a member's question, I want the House to fall silent immediately.