Page 1123 - Week 03 - Thursday, 22 March 2012
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MR HARGREAVES: I apologise, Mr Speaker. The point I was trying to make is that there is regularly—and examination of the Hansard will reveal it—a thematic approach to the way in which the opposition conduct question time. What that means is, of course, that each one of them in turn will ask a question of the same minister. Therefore, Mr Speaker—
MR SPEAKER: One moment, thank you. Stop the clock.
Mr Hanson: On a point of order, Mr Speaker, I do not think this is relevant to the debate. Perhaps you can invite Mr Hargreaves to give his running commentary on the opposition’s performance in question time when he assumes the chair as the Assistant Speaker, as he has done previously this week.
MR HARGREAVES: On the point of order, Mr Speaker, this is not a running commentary on the quality of the opposition, because I would have nothing to talk about. I want to talk about the theme and its relation to documents which are being referred to in that theme and the request to table them.
MR SPEAKER: At this point there is no point of order. Mr Hargreaves.
MR HARGREAVES: The point that I am making is that they go one at a time attacking the same minister, and that is a process they are entitled to employ within this place. But we have seen the first two members of the opposition quote from documents. There is nothing to suggest to me that we will not see the rest of them quote from another document along the way. This request is for those documents that those members intend to use as the basis of their questions in their turn, in the same way that their thematic questioning has occurred in the past.
The intention of this motion is to make those opposite, if they are going to quote from emails, to table them as they go in turn. It is not intended to go beyond that. But if, in fact, we have the same thematic approach today, what we will see is after each one of them rises we will be asking for them to table a document. This is just to shortcut that whole process.
MS GALLAGHER (Molonglo—Chief Minister, Minister for Health and Minister for Territory and Municipal Services) (2.33), by leave:
I move:
Omit all words after “documents”, substitute “already referred to in question time today”.
When I moved the motion, I accept that it was very broad and general.
Mr Smyth: Sorry, we don’t have the amendment.
MS GALLAGHER: It is being—
Mr Smyth: We don’t know what you are speaking to.
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