Points of Order — Questions for Written Answer—Ministerial Responsibility for Operational Matters

I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. The second point of order relates to a written parliamentary answer from the Hon Peter Dunne, received last Friday, where the question goes to whether he or his predecessor indicated a lack of confidence or a relationship breakdown with staff and the reports that he has received. The text of the answer is that that is an operational matter and the responsibility of the Commissioner of Inland Revenue.

I repeat—and it is actually quite parallel to question No. 11—that the question goes to the indication of a Minister to a chief executive of a problem and the awareness of the Minister of a response. Speaker’s ruling 155/4 I think goes to the question, and McGee also makes it very clear that Ministers are responsible to the House for their official actions and for the general conduct of their department and officials. For a Minister to reply to a question and say that this is just an operational matter, I am sure you would rule it out, and you have ruled it out in the House. But I would like you to look at that and to indicate whether or not your standard for Ministers addressing questions is going to apply to written questions as well as those in the House.

I thank the member again. I want to have a look at the question and I want to have a look at the answer before commenting further. I will come back directly to the member.