House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2015-10-27 Daily Xml

Contents

Cabinet Process

Ms CHAPMAN (Bragg—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (14:21): Supplementary to the Treasurer: have you ever made any grammatical changes to any of those cabinet submissions?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier) (14:21): This really is an absurd line of questioning. The notion that—

Mr Pisoni interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Unley is warned.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: —a minister of the Crown should be quizzed about whether they make grammatical changes to cabinet submissions is trite and does not amount to the sort of material that should be canvassed in question time. It is an absurd question. Having said that, sir, having been an avid observer of cabinet submissions over the years, I do note that there was one minister who paid very special attention to their cabinet submissions and would routinely make grammatical alterations to the cabinet submissions to ensure that their cabinet colleagues' sensibilities were not offended by grave errors of split infinitives or other transgressions of a grammatical nature.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: I will take that pause to call to order the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, and the members for Morphett and Morialta. The deputy leader.