Helen Coonan (NSW, Liberal Party, Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

Mr President, I raise a point of order, in the spirit of trying to cooperate in relation to how these new question times work and in respect of direct relevance. The question was: which of the 21 or more countries have actually agreed to join Mr Rudd’s Asia-Pacific Community? That is a very specific question that is susceptible to a ruling relating to direct relevance. Similarly to Senator Abetz, I am not suggesting that you should rule now, but that seems to me to very fairly and squarely raise the issue of direct relevance.