Speaker’s Rulings — Oral Questions—Transfer of Questions

Members, yesterday I undertook to reflect on whether it is appropriate to transfer to another Minister questions that involve a quote from a Minister.

The House has long recognised that the Government has the right to find the appropriate Minister to answer questions, Speaker’s ruling 173/2—and indeed has a duty to do so, Speakers’ ruling 170/4. That is a function of the collective responsibility of the Government for its actions. It is not for the Speaker to determine ministerial responsibility, Speakers’ ruling 170/3. The right and duty of the Government is recognised in the practice of previous Speakers not putting leave requested to transfer questions back to another Minister, Speaker’s ruling 171/1. The right to transfer questions is limited only by the requirement that it cannot be used to evade or obstruct answering questions, including supplementary questions, Speakers’ ruling 171/5.

The bar for the Speaker to refuse a transfer is a very high one. If the Minister to whom the question was originally directed could be the only person who had particular information on a matter, then the transfer would not be allowed. Opinions about whether people stand by particular statements are not matters that have been judged to reach that test, Speakers’ ruling 172/1.

The Speaker would not permit a transfer where a Minister has personal knowledge that no other Minister was likely to have. A question that asked why a Minister said or did something or whether a particular Minister had done something are the sorts of questions that are not likely to be transferrable. Speaker Carter did not allow a transfer when the question asked if the Minister had read a certain report and undertaken the actions recommended in it.

While the Minister to whom a question transferred must be in a position to answer supplementary questions, the Speaker cannot know, in advance, what the supplementary questions will be. So the Speaker cannot disallow a transfer because it does not align with pre-prepared supplementary questions. Since supplementary questions must arise directly from the primary question or the answer to it, this shouldn’t prove to be too much of a difficulty, Speaker’s ruling 196/5.

The answer to the specific matter put to me yesterday: questions that involve a quote from a Minister can be transferred, unless the Speaker judges that no other Minister would have the personal knowledge necessary to answer it.