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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 2 Hansard (2 March) . . Page.. 539 ..
MR SPEAKER (continuing):
importance or even as a motion for debate, but that is a matter for Mr Rugendyke. The point I wish to make, however, is that in addition to that lengthy question there were at least two four-part questions asked of Ministers today, and subsequently a supplementary that ran to four parts.
We are two weeks into this year. I intend from here on in to adhere strictly to standing orders. I would remind members and perhaps those who prepare the questions for them that they should address themselves to standing order 117, which contains a whole list of things which questions should not contain. Standing order 117(a) states:
Questions shall be brief and relate to a single issue;
I do not believe that four-part questions are necessarily adhering to that requirement. For a start, it is obvious that if it is a four-part question it cannot be brief. I would suggest, therefore, that it might be a very good idea, if you have questions of that length, to put them on the notice paper. Standing order 113 reminds you about that. Not everybody here, I hasten to add, is an offender, and not all offenders offend all the time, if I may put it that way. It could be that we have drifted into this by getting a bit sloppy. Standing order 117(a) therefore shall be adhered to. Equally, standing order 118(a), which concerns answers, states:
shall be concise and confined to the subject matter of the question;
That too will be adhered to. Thirdly, standing order 119, relating to supplementary questions, states:
Provided that the supplementary question is relevant to the original question or arises out of the answer given, contains no preamble, introduces no new matter and is put in precise and direct terms.
Furthermore, this is question time; it is not a court of law. Therefore, we will not have constant interjections when Ministers are trying to answer questions, in an attempt, I presume, to trip up Ministers. Some of the interjections are relevant and some of them, frankly, are inane and totally irrelevant. I do not expect that members will easily come to terms with these new procedures. They are, however, part of standing orders. I would advise you to read standing orders 117, 118 and 119. I intend to sit down anybody who breaches those standing orders in question time.
MS CARNELL (Chief Minister) (4.08): Mr Speaker, for the information of members, I present the Government's response to the Standing Committee on Finance and Public Administration (incorporating the Public Accounts Committee) Report No. 3, entitled "Implementation of Service Purchasing Arrangements in the ACT". The report was presented to the Assembly on 9 December 1999. I move:
That the Assembly takes note of the paper.
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