Senate debates Documents
Minister for Communications; Order for the Production of Documents
Penny Wong SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs
3:01 pm
I would just make this point, and I make it for you, for the chamber staff and for others: it is a courtesy and it is a convention, but we have courtesies and conventions in this place that have enabled parties to work cooperatively even when we disagree and even when there are accountability mechanisms being put in place. So I would say to you that this place works a lot better if people do avail themselves of the usual courtesies and the usual conventions. If you indicate to people that you are going to ask a question, I can say to you we genuinely try and ascertain an answer or at least understand why the question hasn't been responded to so we can deal with it. I would suggest that, notwithstanding whatever the strict reading of the standing orders is, it would be useful in this place if some of these conventions could be observed.
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