Points of Order — Question No. 9 to Minister, 8 September

I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker.

💬 Mr SPEAKER: A fresh point of order?

Yes. I raised with you yesterday an issue regarding a question that was put by the Rt Hon Winston Peters to the Minister for Māori Development. It was taken on behalf of the Minister by the Hon Chris Finlayson. In giving answers to that, the Hon Chris Finlayson said that the question should have been directed to the Minister for Whānau Ora. I asked you to consider that, firstly, the report was commissioned by the Minister for Māori Development, it was released by the Minister for Māori Development, and, of course, the Minister for Māori Development is also the Minister for Whānau Ora. You were going to deliberate on the Hansard and come back and advise the House whether or not that question could have been answered—

Order! I have heard enough. No, if the member would only go back again and look at Hansard, he would see that my response was that I would certainly have a look at the questions and the answer. I specifically said I would not necessarily come back to the House. I did have a look at the questions and answer, and I am quite comfortable that the questions were answered according to the Standing Orders. The particular problem in the question that was raised is that it was a supplementary question that arose from a very unspecific primary question: “Does the Minister stand by all his statements?”, or words to that effect. Therefore, the adequacy of the answer, in my opinion, was consistent with the Standing Orders, and if the member wants to have a look at Speakers’ rulings to help him, I suggest he looks at pages 198 and 199.