Speaker’s Rulings — Replies to Questions for Written Answer

Yesterday I undertook to give consideration to replies to questions for written answer that are now conceded to be inaccurate. As I told the House yesterday, Speaker’s ruling 142/3 makes it clear that anyone giving inaccurate information to the House should clear up the error as soon as he or she realises it has occurred. That obligation applies even though the member may not have all the information needed to clear the matter up fully at the time the error is appreciated. It is still incumbent on the member to take the first opportunity to acknowledge the error, with a promise of a full correction in due course. It is not sufficient for a Minister to acknowledge an error only in answering further questions. Where there is an error the Minister should lodge with the Clerk a further reply, indicating that it is believed that there are errors in identified replies and promising to lodge fully corrected replies in due course. I expect all Ministers to follow that course.