2023-09-07
Greens Leader Adam Bandt has moved in the House of Representatives to change the Parliament's Standing Orders to require Ministers to directly answer questions during Question Time, a move Labor and Liberal refused to back.
Pointing to Minister’s Plibersek’s dodging of Greens questions on coal and gas this week, Mr Bandt moved to suspend standing orders this morning to enable Standing Order 104 (a) to be amended to read: An answer must directly answer the question.
Comment attributable to Greens Leader Adam Bandt MP:
“People are sick of governments not answering questions.
“If you ask a Minister why they’re approving more coal projects, they should answer, not waffle on about something else.
“Making sure a Minister’s answer actually answers the question is a pretty low bar, but one Labor and Liberal can’t clear.
“Question Time is meant to be where we can hold governments to account, but it is becoming a farce because Ministers don’t have to answer questions.”
“For too long the establishment parties have teamed up to ensure questions don’t have to be answered and we have seen that again today, but the Greens will continue this push.”
Crossbench members backed the push, but Labor and Coalition MPs voted together to prevent the change to the standing orders."