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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 12 Hansard (19 November) . . Page.. 3723 ..

Mr Berry: Mr Speaker, I asked a supplementary question. I just wonder whether the Chief Minister is going to have a stab at it - - -

MR SPEAKER: You have received an answer to the effect that the Government has not seen the report. How can the Chief Minister possibly answer - - -

Mr Berry: Does that mean, "I do not know; it is not a big enough amount" or just, "I do not know"?

MR SPEAKER: Resume your seat. I will call Mr Moore.

Ms Follett: Mr Speaker, I raise a point of order in relation to your previous comment. I know of no rule that says a Minister may be asked a question only about a report that has been tabled in this place or that has been made public. I believe that Ministers can be asked a question about any matter within their portfolio. That is what our standing orders say. We do not have to confine ourselves to matters which have been either made public or tabled.

Mrs Carnell: Mr Speaker, the point I was making - and this is certainly not a point of order - is that it is impossible to answer a question on a report that I have not seen if they are not willing to table it.

Mr Whitecross: Mr Speaker, further to the point of order: The Government seem to be developing a whole new rule about question time which says that if the department does not tell them we cannot ask them a question about it. Mrs Carnell's position is that because her department has not told her about it we cannot ask her a question about it. That is simply not good enough. She is responsible for what her department does. She is responsible politically for the administration of her department. She cannot simply get up in this place and say that she is not going to answer questions about the operation of her department. She is not willing to answer questions about the operation of her department, simply because she has not taken the time to find out the information from her department. If she does not know the answer, she should take the question on notice, as is the normal custom, go back and ask the chief executive the answer to the question and then come back and tell us the answer to the question. That is the normal procedure.

MR SPEAKER: There is no point of order.

Mr Humphries: Mr Speaker, on the point of order: The standing orders require that questions should not be of a hypothetical nature. "Hypothetical" obviously refers to - - -

Mr Berry: Mr Speaker, this is just another stunt.

MR SPEAKER: Order!

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