Chapter 19 - Relations with the executive government
Questions without notice: question
time
Question time for questions without
notice occurs at 2 pm on each sitting day.
Time limits are imposed on
questions and answers at
question time. Standing order 72(3) provides
that:
-
the asking of each question
not exceed 1 minute and the answering of each question not exceed 4 minutes;
-
the asking of each
supplementary question not exceed 1 minute and the answering of each
supplementary question not exceed 1 minute.
While standing
orders give senators the right to ask questions of ministers and certain other
senators there is no corresponding obligation on those questioned to give an answer.
President
Baker ruled on 26 August 1902 that there was “no
obligation on a minister or other member to answer a question”, and in 1905 he
ruled: “It is a matter of policy whether the Government will answer a question
or not. There are no standing orders which can force a minister or other
senator to answer a question” (SD, 26/8/1902, p. 15311 and 20/10/1905,
p. 3858). Other presidents have stated that answers are “optional” or
“discretionary” and that, “There is no obligation on a minister to answer: he
does so merely as a matter of courtesy”. (For rulings that ministers cannot be
required to answer questions see SD, 26/8/1902, p. 15311; 1/6/1904,
p. 1736; 20/10/1905, p. 3858; 22/5/1914, p. 1428; 16/7/1919,
p. 10718; 1/10/1952, p. 2373; 2/6/1955, p. 592; 5/10/1961, p. 891;
10/9/1963, p. 372; 22/8/1973, p. 40; 19/10/1983, p. 1717; 3/11/1983,
p. 2186; 6/12/1990, p. 5131.) These rulings relate to the conduct of
question time and do not preclude the Senate taking some separate action to
obtain the required information.
The standing orders
prescribe no limit to the duration of questions without notice. In practice, about
one hour is usually occupied by questions without notice, at the expiration of
which time the Leader of the Government in the Senate or the minister at the
table asks senators to put any further questions on the Notice Paper. As
ministers are not obliged to answer questions without notice (see above), this
effectively terminates question time for that day.
Except for the period 26 September 1967 to 27 March 1973, it has been the practice for question time to be ended
by a minister asking that any further questions be placed on the notice paper.
On 26 September 1967 the Leader of the Government in the Senate moved that
further questions be placed upon the Notice Paper. The President stated that it
was the practice of the Senate that a minister had the right to ask that
further questions be placed on the Notice Paper, without proposing a motion. A
motion, proposed by an Opposition senator, was agreed to that questions without
notice be proceeded with. Ministers answered further questions, although they were
not obliged to. (The President had ruled that such a motion could not be moved
without notice. This ruling, though undoubtedly correct, was dissented from by
the Senate.)
For some years after the 1967 proceedings no minister attempted to
terminate question time by means of asking that further questions be placed
upon the Notice Paper, and the duration of question time increased markedly,
from about 45 minutes prior to 1967 to 80 minutes at the end of 1972 and 110
minutes during the early part of the 1973 session. Question time was curtailed
for a brief period at the end of 1972, however. Faced with a large amount of
business to be dealt with in the remaining days of the session, the government
moved
That, unless otherwise ordered,
question time including questions on notice, for the remainder of the present
period of sittings, shall not exceed 45 minutes.
The motion was passed on October 25 1972 (J.1193) and for
the remaining four days of the 27th Parliament question time was limited
accordingly.
A general election was held in December 1972 and when the Senate
resumed in February 1973 the practice which had been followed since 1967 (with
the exception of the four days in October 1972) was briefly resumed before
being replaced on 27 March 1973 by the practice which had obtained prior to 1967. President Cormack then made a
statement concerning questions in which he outlined the practice which
prevailed until 26 September 1967 and noted that since that time no minister had
attempted to terminate question time as long as senators wished to ask
questions. He stated:
Notwithstanding the September 1967
proceedings there is still no obligation upon a minister to answer questions,
and if the minister in charge asks after a certain time that further questions
without notice be placed on the notice paper I believe that I have no
alternative but to call the next business. (SD, 27/3/1973, p. 567.)
The rationale for the restoration of the earlier practice was that the
decision of 26 September 1967 to extend question time applied to that day
only and the fact that for the next five years the government had chosen not
exercise the right to terminate question time at the request of the minister at
the table did not affect the validity of this practice. Consequently, on the
next occasion after 1967 that the minister at the table asked that further
questions be placed on the Notice Paper, the President ruled in accordance with
traditional practice.
Following the President’s ruling (which he later repeated, SD, 17/5/1973, p. 1688), the
Senate proceeded to the next business, but the Leader of the Opposition
intended that the practice should be reviewed. On 29 March 1973 the Leader of the
Opposition moved:
That, in the absence of any Standing
Order on the matter, honourable Senators’ right to question Ministers is
limited only by the judgment of the Senate, and that Ministers who seek
recognition from the Senate are obliged to answer questions with a promptness
and accuracy appropriate to ministerial responsibility.
The motion was debated but not voted upon (29/3/1973, J.82).
On 10 April 1973, the Leader of the Opposition gave notice that,
contingent upon any minister asking, on any day of sitting during question
time, that further questions without notice be placed on the Notice Paper, he
might move: That questions without notice be further proceeded with. A similar
notice of motion was given in the 1974 session. These notices were not used.
President O’Byrne confirmed the restoration of the traditional practice
when, on 11 July 1974 (SD, p. 81), he stated that after the minister in
charge “asks that further questions without notice be placed on the notice
paper the Chair regards itself as bound by practice to call on the next
business”. The question of a minister’s right to terminate question time was
raised next in 1979, when President Laucke stated that the practice of question time being terminated by the
Leader of the Government requesting that further questions be placed on the
Notice Paper was well established and had been recognised by successive
Presidents (SD, 22/3/1979, p. 879).
The practice was considered in 1980 by the Standing Orders
Committee, which confirmed in its report to the Senate (PP 50/1980) that it was
a long‑established practice for question time to be terminated by the
Leader of the Government in the Senate asking that further questions be placed
on notice. The basis of the practice, the committee reported, is that it
is competent for ministers to ask that any questions be placed on the Notice
Paper and that ministers, in any case, are not bound to answer
questions. The committee did not consider that it ought to recommend any
change in the practice.
On 25 June 1992 the Opposition successfully moved a motion, for which
the Opposition Leader had on the Notice Paper a special contingent notice of
motion to suspend standing orders, to extend question time that day. Time was
extended to enable five further questions to be put to ministers by Opposition
senators (25/6/1992, J.2614-5).
On 19 October 1999 question time was extended on several days in response
to a refusal by a minister to produce a document in accordance with an order of
the Senate (19/10/1999 J.1931-2).
Although the
government can end question time by asking that further questions be placed on
notice, question time is an item in the Senate’s routine of business, and, as
such, cannot be dispensed with except by a decision of the Senate to alter the routine
of business which explicitly or implicitly has that effect.
For the effect of censure motions on the duration of question time, see
above, under Ministerial accountability and censure motions.
The history of the
time limits on questions and answers is of interest. On the initiative of the
Opposition, a special order was agreed to on 14 September 1992 (J.2745) to limit
the asking of questions to one minute and the answering of questions to two
minutes during question time. The motion also limited the asking of
supplementary questions to one minute and answers to them to two minutes. The
motion further specified that time taken to make and determine points of order
should not be regarded as part of the time for questions and answers. This
action was taken after Opposition complaints about the length of some
ministers’ answers, and a general discontent with the conduct of question time.
The order was expressed to apply only to the remainder of that week. The
operation of the order during the week resulted in a significant increase in
the number of questions asked and answered, but also caused an increase in the
number of supplementary questions. On 6 October 1992 (J.2816) these
procedures were again adopted for the following two weeks but with an amendment
moved by the Australian Democrats to extend the time for answers to questions
to four minutes. They were adopted again (3/11/1992, J.2931) for the first two
sitting weeks of November with the limits to answers to questions and
supplementary questions reduced to three minutes and one minute respectively.
On 24 November 1992 (J.3076) these procedures, together with those
concerning motions to take note of answers after question time (see the section
on motions to take note of answers below), were renewed as sessional orders.
The procedures were incorporated into standing order 72 in February 1997.
The chair seeks to
call senators to ask questions so as to achieve an appropriate allocation of
questions among parties and independent senators. By custom the chair observes
an order for the allocation of questions agreed to by senators. In its second
report of 1995, the Procedure Committee endorsed the principle of
proportionality, that is, that the allocation of questions between the various
parties, groups and independent senators should be as nearly as practicable in
proportion to their numbers in the Senate (PP 284/1995). The allocation of
questions, however, is not governed by any rule of the Senate. For an unsuccessful attempt to change the
allocation and specify it in an order of the Senate, see 5/3/2003,
J.1539.
The Leader of the
Opposition, when seeking to ask a question, is accorded priority over all other
non-government senators (ruling of President Mattner, SD, 26/9/1951, p. 5). The call is given to senators who have not
asked questions before calling any senator for a second time (SD, 24/10/1951,
p. 1035; 3/5/1973, p. 1276).
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