Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

It is a point of order on relevance. From Senator Brandis in response to Senator Xenophon and now this minister, we really do have an abuse of question time. Ministers are asked questions, and the one question was: given the new minister's commitment, will the minister confirm the government will abandon its six-year freeze on Medicare rebates? We understand that some political hyperbole is part of how we deal with question time, but this minister has spent some 1½ minutes talking only about a former Labor minister—can't she answer the question? Is she unable to answer the question?