Madam SPEAKEROn Tuesday last week points of order were raised relating to expenditure from Vote Parliamentary Service. I undertook to reflect on the responsibilities of the Speaker to this House for the subject matter raised in the point of order. I do not intend to respond on a point of order to the submissions put forward as to the propriety of the expenditure in question. This is under examination in other ways and, for the reasons I am about to set out, is not appropriate for a point of order.
Until 1985 a Government department responsible to a Minister delivered services to Parliament and members. In 1985 members were given responsibility themselves for the administrative services they needed. A commission consisting of the Speaker and members was set up, and the Parliamentary Service, responsible to the commission, was created. In 1989 when the Public Finance Act was reformed, the Speaker became the responsible Minister for the Parliamentary Service. This means that the Speaker plays the role of a Minister in accounting for the activities and expenditure of the Parliamentary Service. Written questions may be put to the Speaker about the Parliamentary Service, and the Speaker attends estimates hearings for Vote Parliamentary Service.
Points of order relate, or are supposed to relate, to matters of procedure in the House on which the Speaker can rule—see Speaker’s ruling 19/1. They are not a means of examining Parliamentary Service business—see Speaker’s ruling 15/2—any more than points of order are means of questioning Ministers on the administration of their portfolios.
The Parliamentary Service Commission meets each month. Every party is represented on the commission. Any member with concerns about Parliamentary Service matters may take up those concerns with the commission. In addition, members of Parliament always have the constitutional right to utilise the ordinary procedures of the House, such as written questions, estimates, and financial reviews, to examine matters of policy and administration relating to the Parliamentary Service, but such matters cannot be raised as a point of order, because there is nothing in them on which the Speaker, as Speaker, can rule.