Hon TREVOR MALLARD (Labour—Hutt South) Link to this
I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. In order to assist you with your deliberations on my previous point of order this afternoon, I draw to your attention Speaker’s Ruling 140/4: “Except where there is a statutory obligation, whether Ministers table documents is a matter for them to decide.” [ Interruption]
Mr SPEAKERI apologise to the member. The Hon Trevor Mallard is raising a perfectly serious point of order, and we will have silence.
Hon TREVOR MALLARD Link to this
That Speaker’s ruling is by Mr Speaker Hunt and makes it clear that Ministers do not require the leave of the House; they have the right to table a document. They do not require the leave of the House in order to use that right.