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

Mr President, we have listened to your reference to Senator Beahan's ruling. I don't propose to take up question time for a longer discussion, but I do flag that the opposition's view is that that was substantially altered by the changes to the standing orders and the lengthy discussion—as someone who was here during that period—that accompanied the change to direct relevance, which, in fact, went to some of the issues that President Beahan raised. I want to flag, now, that your indication from the chair is something we would like the opportunity to make submissions on, if you propose to take that approach. I maintain my point of order that it cannot possibly be directly relevant to talk about the number of people who are receiving care when the only question that has been asked of this minister is to confirm a number of those who are not.