Hon DARREN HUGHES (Senior Whip—Labour) Link to this
I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. Speakers’ Rulings sets out when questions can be transferred between Ministers, and the Government has done that in the case of question No. 11 quite appropriately. We set this question down to the Prime Minister. It has been transferred within the rules to the Minister responsible for Ministerial Services, so that Mr English, as Acting Prime Minister, will not have to answer it.
We are confused about Acting Ministers in portfolios, and I wonder whether you could give us your understanding of this matter. Confusion arose yesterday when the Opposition understood that the Acting Minister responsible for Ministerial Services was Mr English, yet the question to that Minister was answered by Mr Brownlee. Mr English was present in the Chamber, so if he was the Acting Minister he would have been required to answer the question. One of the problems for the Opposition is that we do not have access to the Cabinet Office list of Ministers who are acting in each portfolio. However, I have a copy here of a list from earlier in the year where it makes it clear that the Speaker of the House receives a copy of the document. It sets out Ministers who are absent, how long they are absent for, what portfolios their absences relate to, and who the Acting Ministers will be.
The Opposition would like to know whether when you, Mr Speaker, know a Minister will be absent—as when Mr Key is absent on well-known official business—you check to see whom you expect to answer the question as Acting Minister in that portfolio. If another Minister answers on behalf of the absent Minister, and the Acting Minister is present, that is where the difficulty occurs. Our understanding is that Mr English is Acting Minister for all of the Prime Minister’s portfolios in his absence.