Standing Orders

In reply to the Hon. T.A. FRANKS ().5 June 2024).

The Hon. T.J. STEPHENS: The Hon. T.A. Franks has asked me to advise the council on the operations of standing order 109.

Standing order 109 states:

In putting any Question, no argument, opinion or hypothetical case shall be offered, nor inference or imputation made, nor shall any facts be stated or quotations made including quotations from Hansard of the debates in the other House, except by leave of the Council and so far only as may be necessary to explain such Question.

Members often seek leave of the council to provide a brief explanation prior to directing their question. Leave may be granted by the council with the unanimous consent of members and is granted when no member present objects to the course of action for which leave is sought.

As Odgers states, 'Leave is restricted to the particular purpose for which it has been sought'. In relation to standing order 109, there are several restrictions when asking a question identified in the standing order, one of which is the inclusion of quotations from Hansard of the debates in the other house. The question as to whether the leave of the council to make a brief explanation provides leave for a member to include in that explanation all or any of the otherwise prohibited content may be subject to conjecture.

However, to give clarity to this issue from this point, when members seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question, I ask that they include that they are seeking leave to include quotations from Hansard of the debates in the other house, if that is necessary to explain such question.