Points of Order — Replies to Written Questions—Electronic Format

I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. I want to raise a procedural issue around parliamentary questions. When I have submitted a written parliamentary question to the Minister of Education in the past, I have received replies where extensive data has been supplied in an electronic form. That practice has now ceased, and the Minister now supplies any extensive data in paper form, which is often hundreds of pages of printouts of spreadsheets. This is a practice he complained about when he was in Opposition.

So my question is whether there is a practice followed by the House in respect of receiving appropriate answers in electronic format and, furthermore, if there is not a practice, whether members could establish one. Given that our whole system is now electronically based, it would seem rather odd that the very information most suited to that medium—large-scale data—can be answered in only a paper format.

💬 Mr SPEAKER: I will look at that issue. It is quite a complex one, and I will come back to the member.