Government gags debate on standards

The Rudd Government has gagged debate today on improving Parliamentary standards, in a move both ironic and hypocritical at once.

Manager of Opposition Business Christopher Pyne was gagged as he moved a motion to reform Parliamentary Standing orders that would have directed Ministers to be relevant in their answers to questions asked, and to limit their answers to four minutes.

When Labor was in Opposition, the then Manager of Opposition Business, Julia Gillard, submitted a detailed submission to the Parliamentary procedures committee that called for:

The Standing Orders be amended to limit questions asked in question time to one minute and limit answers to question during question time to four minutes.

On relevance, Ms Gillard wrote that:

It is now customary for completely irrelevant answers to be ruled relevant. On current relevance rulings, if a Minister for Transport were asked whether or not he or she had taken a million dollar bribe from a shipping company, the answer would be ruled relevant if it were about shipping. Given the current way in which Standing Order 104 is applied, Question Time cannot play its vital role of holding Executive Government to account.

Today, the Opposition presented the Government with the opportunity to debate these issues that they previously considered so vitally important to ""enhance standards of Parliamentary behaviour and consequently the reputation of Parliament"" but the Government obviously no longer considers this to be the case.

The age promised by Labor of accountability and transparency never began, but the age of hypocrisy is in full flight.

Opposition motion:

That standing order 104 (Answers) be omitted with a view to substituting the following standing order:

104. Answers

An answer:

(a) Must be directly relevant to the question; and

(b) During Question Time, must not exceed a period of four minutes, excluding time for points of order and other interruptions.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Adam Howard

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