Hon TREVOR MALLARD (Labour—Hutt South) Link to this
I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. I would like to draw to your attention the wording of this question, and to ask you where in the question there is any indication of ministerial responsibility. This question asks nothing about Government policy; there is nothing about anything that any Minister has done. The Minister is not responsible for any announcement made by third parties. I submit to you that there is nothing in the wording of the question that indicates any Government responsibility at all, and therefore there is no ministerial responsibility.
Mr SPEAKERThe member has raised an interesting point. Obviously the question was scrutinised by the Office of the Clerk when it was accepted, and it has been accepted. My dilemma, as the Speaker, is that it would be pretty rash for the Speaker now to make judgments about the issue about announcements, because it may well be that the Government has made some announcement, and I cannot, as Speaker, make any judgment about that. I really think that I cannot assist the member, because I would be acting quite improperly as Speaker to be making some judgment about whether the Government might have made announcements.