❓ WA Parliament questions the Howard Government's lack of a designated Federal Minister for Consumer Affairs, highlighting concerns about national consumer protection and WA's representation in the federal ministry. The response is highly critical of the federal government.
AnsweredQoN 639Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
FEDERAL MINISTER RESPONSIBLE FOR CONSUMER AFFAIRS
Which federal minister is responsible for consumer affairs in the third Howard Government? Mr KOBELKE
Which federal minister is responsible for consumer affairs in the third Howard Government? Mr KOBELKE
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for the question. It is of concern to the Government that it appears no-one in the Howard ministry has responsibility for consumer affairs. We have a range of matters on which we must work collectively with the federal Government and with other States because it is advantageous to have provisions that apply to consumer protection and consumer affairs nationally. This Government deals proactively with matters of fuel pricing, particularly the unacceptable disparity in the price of fuel between Perth and regional Western Australia. We have sought also to have the Commonwealth become involved in that matter because it has considerable powers under the Trade Practices Act. We sought to contact the relevant minister in the federal Government to find out whether we could get a specific reference to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. I thought it was our fault that we did not know who the new federal minister for consumer protection was because the Howard Government was sworn in 11 days ago. Yesterday, we contacted the Ministerial Council on Consumer Affairs secretariat, which is part of the federal Treasury, to ask who is the minister responsible for consumer affairs. The person we spoke to did not know and suggested that we ring the Prime Minister’s office. We rang the Prime Minister’s office and were told that the minister for consumer protection had been Mr Joe Hockey. Again we asked who was the current minister for consumer protection and the Prime Minister’s office suggested that we call Treasury because it has responsibility. We rang Treasury and were told that the Prime Minister had not yet made a decision. When the Prime Minister gets around to deciding who will be the federal minister responsible for consumer affairs, we might actually know. The federal Opposition has already nominated Senator Nick Sherry to be responsible for the consumer affairs portfolio. It is a sad indictment of the Howard Government that it does not take consumer affairs seriously. I hope that by the time we get around to our scheduled ministerial council next February, Prime Minister Howard might have got around to appointing a minister, at least, to be responsible for this portfolio area. However, given the level of interjection, I must draw attention to the fact that Prime Minister Howard does not seem to have much interest in Western Australia. We only have one federal minister from Western Australia. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, members! Mr KOBELKE: That leaves some conjecture as to whether the poor quality of membership of the Western Australian Liberal Party has left the Prime Minister with no-one to choose from, or whether the Leader of the Opposition’s stand in support of One Nation has put the Western Australian Liberal Party offside with the Prime Minister and led to the lack of decent Western Australian Liberal representation in federal Parliament. Point of Order Mr JOHNSON: The Leader of the House is going way beyond the bounds of answering the question that was put to him. There is no relevance in his answer whatsoever. The question related to a federal minister and had nothing to do with what is going on in WA with regard to One Nation. I ask the Speaker to draw the minister to a conclusion. The SPEAKER: The minister is answering the question as he sees fit. My concern is the number of interjections, which have prolonged this question beyond the time in which it should have been answered. Questions without Notice Resumed Mr KOBELKE: I was drawing my answer to a conclusion. The level of interjection opposite is reflective of the poor standard we have in the Liberal Party in State Parliament. Prime Minister Howard has drawn a similar conclusion about his Liberal federal colleagues from Western Australia, which leaves Western Australia, a State that should have more than adequate representation in the federal ministry, well under-represented. Unfortunately, that is to the detriment of this State.
Mr KOBELKE replied: I thank the member for the question. It is of concern to the Government that it appears no-one in the Howard ministry has responsibility for consumer affairs. We have a range of matters on which we must work collectively with the federal Government and with other States because it is advantageous to have provisions that apply to consumer protection and consumer affairs nationally. This Government deals proactively with matters of fuel pricing, particularly the unacceptable disparity in the price of fuel between Perth and regional Western Australia. We have sought also to have the Commonwealth become involved in that matter because it has considerable powers under the Trade Practices Act. We sought to contact the relevant minister in the federal Government to find out whether we could get a specific reference to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. I thought it was our fault that we did not know who the new federal minister for consumer protection was because the Howard Government was sworn in 11 days ago. Yesterday, we contacted the Ministerial Council on Consumer Affairs secretariat, which is part of the federal Treasury, to ask who is the minister responsible for consumer affairs. The person we spoke to did not know and suggested that we ring the Prime Minister’s office. We rang the Prime Minister’s office and were told that the minister for consumer protection had been Mr Joe Hockey. Again we asked who was the current minister for consumer protection and the Prime Minister’s office suggested that we call Treasury because it has responsibility. We rang Treasury and were told that the Prime Minister had not yet made a decision. When the Prime Minister gets around to deciding who will be the federal minister responsible for consumer affairs, we might actually know. The federal Opposition has already nominated Senator Nick Sherry to be responsible for the consumer affairs portfolio. It is a sad indictment of the Howard Government that it does not take consumer affairs seriously. I hope that by the time we get around to our scheduled ministerial council next February, Prime Minister Howard might have got around to appointing a minister, at least, to be responsible for this portfolio area. However, given the level of interjection, I must draw attention to the fact that Prime Minister Howard does not seem to have much interest in Western Australia. We only have one federal minister from Western Australia. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, members! Mr KOBELKE: That leaves some conjecture as to whether the poor quality of membership of the Western Australian Liberal Party has left the Prime Minister with no-one to choose from, or whether the Leader of the Opposition’s stand in support of One Nation has put the Western Australian Liberal Party offside with the Prime Minister and led to the lack of decent Western Australian Liberal representation in federal Parliament. Point of Order Mr JOHNSON: The Leader of the House is going way beyond the bounds of answering the question that was put to him. There is no relevance in his answer whatsoever. The question related to a federal minister and had nothing to do with what is going on in WA with regard to One Nation. I ask the Speaker to draw the minister to a conclusion. The SPEAKER: The minister is answering the question as he sees fit. My concern is the number of interjections, which have prolonged this question beyond the time in which it should have been answered. Questions without Notice Resumed Mr KOBELKE: I was drawing my answer to a conclusion. The level of interjection opposite is reflective of the poor standard we have in the Liberal Party in State Parliament. Prime Minister Howard has drawn a similar conclusion about his Liberal federal colleagues from Western Australia, which leaves Western Australia, a State that should have more than adequate representation in the federal ministry, well under-represented. Unfortunately, that is to the detriment of this State.
I thank the member for the question. It is of concern to the Government that it appears no-one in the Howard ministry has responsibility for consumer affairs. We have a range of matters on which we must work collectively with the federal Government and with other States because it is advantageous to have provisions that apply to consumer protection and consumer affairs nationally. This Government deals proactively with matters of fuel pricing, particularly the unacceptable disparity in the price of fuel between Perth and regional Western Australia. We have sought also to have the Commonwealth become involved in that matter because it has considerable powers under the Trade Practices Act. We sought to contact the relevant minister in the federal Government to find out whether we could get a specific reference to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. I thought it was our fault that we did not know who the new federal minister for consumer protection was because the Howard Government was sworn in 11 days ago. Yesterday, we contacted the Ministerial Council on Consumer Affairs secretariat, which is part of the federal Treasury, to ask who is the minister responsible for consumer affairs. The person we spoke to did not know and suggested that we ring the Prime Minister’s office. We rang the Prime Minister’s office and were told that the minister for consumer protection had been Mr Joe Hockey. Again we asked who was the current minister for consumer protection and the Prime Minister’s office suggested that we call Treasury because it has responsibility. We rang Treasury and were told that the Prime Minister had not yet made a decision. When the Prime Minister gets around to deciding who will be the federal minister responsible for consumer affairs, we might actually know. The federal Opposition has already nominated Senator Nick Sherry to be responsible for the consumer affairs portfolio. It is a sad indictment of the Howard Government that it does not take consumer affairs seriously. I hope that by the time we get around to our scheduled ministerial council next February, Prime Minister Howard might have got around to appointing a minister, at least, to be responsible for this portfolio area. However, given the level of interjection, I must draw attention to the fact that Prime Minister Howard does not seem to have much interest in Western Australia. We only have one federal minister from Western Australia. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, members! Mr KOBELKE: That leaves some conjecture as to whether the poor quality of membership of the Western Australian Liberal Party has left the Prime Minister with no-one to choose from, or whether the Leader of the Opposition’s stand in support of One Nation has put the Western Australian Liberal Party offside with the Prime Minister and led to the lack of decent Western Australian Liberal representation in federal Parliament. Point of Order Mr JOHNSON: The Leader of the House is going way beyond the bounds of answering the question that was put to him. There is no relevance in his answer whatsoever. The question related to a federal minister and had nothing to do with what is going on in WA with regard to One Nation. I ask the Speaker to draw the minister to a conclusion. The SPEAKER: The minister is answering the question as he sees fit. My concern is the number of interjections, which have prolonged this question beyond the time in which it should have been answered. Questions without Notice Resumed Mr KOBELKE: I was drawing my answer to a conclusion. The level of interjection opposite is reflective of the poor standard we have in the Liberal Party in State Parliament. Prime Minister Howard has drawn a similar conclusion about his Liberal federal colleagues from Western Australia, which leaves Western Australia, a State that should have more than adequate representation in the federal ministry, well under-represented. Unfortunately, that is to the detriment of this State.
We sought to contact the relevant minister in the federal Government to find out whether we could get a specific reference to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. I thought it was our fault that we did not know who the new federal minister for consumer protection was because the Howard Government was sworn in 11 days ago. Yesterday, we contacted the Ministerial Council on Consumer Affairs secretariat, which is part of the federal Treasury, to ask who is the minister responsible for consumer affairs. The person we spoke to did not know and suggested that we ring the Prime Minister’s office. We rang the Prime Minister’s office and were told that the minister for consumer protection had been Mr Joe Hockey. Again we asked who was the current minister for consumer protection and the Prime Minister’s office suggested that we call Treasury because it has responsibility. We rang Treasury and were told that the Prime Minister had not yet made a decision. When the Prime Minister gets around to deciding who will be the federal minister responsible for consumer affairs, we might actually know. The federal Opposition has already nominated Senator Nick Sherry to be responsible for the consumer affairs portfolio. It is a sad indictment of the Howard Government that it does not take consumer affairs seriously. I hope that by the time we get around to our scheduled ministerial council next February, Prime Minister Howard might have got around to appointing a minister, at least, to be responsible for this portfolio area. However, given the level of interjection, I must draw attention to the fact that Prime Minister Howard does not seem to have much interest in Western Australia. We only have one federal minister from Western Australia. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, members! Mr KOBELKE: That leaves some conjecture as to whether the poor quality of membership of the Western Australian Liberal Party has left the Prime Minister with no-one to choose from, or whether the Leader of the Opposition’s stand in support of One Nation has put the Western Australian Liberal Party offside with the Prime Minister and led to the lack of decent Western Australian Liberal representation in federal Parliament. Point of Order Mr JOHNSON: The Leader of the House is going way beyond the bounds of answering the question that was put to him. There is no relevance in his answer whatsoever. The question related to a federal minister and had nothing to do with what is going on in WA with regard to One Nation. I ask the Speaker to draw the minister to a conclusion. The SPEAKER: The minister is answering the question as he sees fit. My concern is the number of interjections, which have prolonged this question beyond the time in which it should have been answered. Questions without Notice Resumed Mr KOBELKE: I was drawing my answer to a conclusion. The level of interjection opposite is reflective of the poor standard we have in the Liberal Party in State Parliament. Prime Minister Howard has drawn a similar conclusion about his Liberal federal colleagues from Western Australia, which leaves Western Australia, a State that should have more than adequate representation in the federal ministry, well under-represented. Unfortunately, that is to the detriment of this State.
Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, members! Mr KOBELKE: That leaves some conjecture as to whether the poor quality of membership of the Western Australian Liberal Party has left the Prime Minister with no-one to choose from, or whether the Leader of the Opposition’s stand in support of One Nation has put the Western Australian Liberal Party offside with the Prime Minister and led to the lack of decent Western Australian Liberal representation in federal Parliament. Point of Order Mr JOHNSON: The Leader of the House is going way beyond the bounds of answering the question that was put to him. There is no relevance in his answer whatsoever. The question related to a federal minister and had nothing to do with what is going on in WA with regard to One Nation. I ask the Speaker to draw the minister to a conclusion. The SPEAKER: The minister is answering the question as he sees fit. My concern is the number of interjections, which have prolonged this question beyond the time in which it should have been answered. Questions without Notice Resumed Mr KOBELKE: I was drawing my answer to a conclusion. The level of interjection opposite is reflective of the poor standard we have in the Liberal Party in State Parliament. Prime Minister Howard has drawn a similar conclusion about his Liberal federal colleagues from Western Australia, which leaves Western Australia, a State that should have more than adequate representation in the federal ministry, well under-represented. Unfortunately, that is to the detriment of this State.
The SPEAKER: Order, members! Mr KOBELKE: That leaves some conjecture as to whether the poor quality of membership of the Western Australian Liberal Party has left the Prime Minister with no-one to choose from, or whether the Leader of the Opposition’s stand in support of One Nation has put the Western Australian Liberal Party offside with the Prime Minister and led to the lack of decent Western Australian Liberal representation in federal Parliament. Point of Order Mr JOHNSON: The Leader of the House is going way beyond the bounds of answering the question that was put to him. There is no relevance in his answer whatsoever. The question related to a federal minister and had nothing to do with what is going on in WA with regard to One Nation. I ask the Speaker to draw the minister to a conclusion. The SPEAKER: The minister is answering the question as he sees fit. My concern is the number of interjections, which have prolonged this question beyond the time in which it should have been answered. Questions without Notice Resumed Mr KOBELKE: I was drawing my answer to a conclusion. The level of interjection opposite is reflective of the poor standard we have in the Liberal Party in State Parliament. Prime Minister Howard has drawn a similar conclusion about his Liberal federal colleagues from Western Australia, which leaves Western Australia, a State that should have more than adequate representation in the federal ministry, well under-represented. Unfortunately, that is to the detriment of this State.
Mr KOBELKE: That leaves some conjecture as to whether the poor quality of membership of the Western Australian Liberal Party has left the Prime Minister with no-one to choose from, or whether the Leader of the Opposition’s stand in support of One Nation has put the Western Australian Liberal Party offside with the Prime Minister and led to the lack of decent Western Australian Liberal representation in federal Parliament. Point of Order Mr JOHNSON: The Leader of the House is going way beyond the bounds of answering the question that was put to him. There is no relevance in his answer whatsoever. The question related to a federal minister and had nothing to do with what is going on in WA with regard to One Nation. I ask the Speaker to draw the minister to a conclusion. The SPEAKER: The minister is answering the question as he sees fit. My concern is the number of interjections, which have prolonged this question beyond the time in which it should have been answered. Questions without Notice Resumed Mr KOBELKE: I was drawing my answer to a conclusion. The level of interjection opposite is reflective of the poor standard we have in the Liberal Party in State Parliament. Prime Minister Howard has drawn a similar conclusion about his Liberal federal colleagues from Western Australia, which leaves Western Australia, a State that should have more than adequate representation in the federal ministry, well under-represented. Unfortunately, that is to the detriment of this State.
The SPEAKER: The minister is answering the question as he sees fit. My concern is the number of interjections, which have prolonged this question beyond the time in which it should have been answered. Questions without Notice Resumed Mr KOBELKE: I was drawing my answer to a conclusion. The level of interjection opposite is reflective of the poor standard we have in the Liberal Party in State Parliament. Prime Minister Howard has drawn a similar conclusion about his Liberal federal colleagues from Western Australia, which leaves Western Australia, a State that should have more than adequate representation in the federal ministry, well under-represented. Unfortunately, that is to the detriment of this State.
Mr KOBELKE replied: I thank the member for the question. It is of concern to the Government that it appears no-one in the Howard ministry has responsibility for consumer affairs. We have a range of matters on which we must work collectively with the federal Government and with other States because it is advantageous to have provisions that apply to consumer protection and consumer affairs nationally. This Government deals proactively with matters of fuel pricing, particularly the unacceptable disparity in the price of fuel between Perth and regional Western Australia. We have sought also to have the Commonwealth become involved in that matter because it has considerable powers under the Trade Practices Act. We sought to contact the relevant minister in the federal Government to find out whether we could get a specific reference to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. I thought it was our fault that we did not know who the new federal minister for consumer protection was because the Howard Government was sworn in 11 days ago. Yesterday, we contacted the Ministerial Council on Consumer Affairs secretariat, which is part of the federal Treasury, to ask who is the minister responsible for consumer affairs. The person we spoke to did not know and suggested that we ring the Prime Minister’s office. We rang the Prime Minister’s office and were told that the minister for consumer protection had been Mr Joe Hockey. Again we asked who was the current minister for consumer protection and the Prime Minister’s office suggested that we call Treasury because it has responsibility. We rang Treasury and were told that the Prime Minister had not yet made a decision. When the Prime Minister gets around to deciding who will be the federal minister responsible for consumer affairs, we might actually know. The federal Opposition has already nominated Senator Nick Sherry to be responsible for the consumer affairs portfolio. It is a sad indictment of the Howard Government that it does not take consumer affairs seriously. I hope that by the time we get around to our scheduled ministerial council next February, Prime Minister Howard might have got around to appointing a minister, at least, to be responsible for this portfolio area. However, given the level of interjection, I must draw attention to the fact that Prime Minister Howard does not seem to have much interest in Western Australia. We only have one federal minister from Western Australia. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, members! Mr KOBELKE: That leaves some conjecture as to whether the poor quality of membership of the Western Australian Liberal Party has left the Prime Minister with no-one to choose from, or whether the Leader of the Opposition’s stand in support of One Nation has put the Western Australian Liberal Party offside with the Prime Minister and led to the lack of decent Western Australian Liberal representation in federal Parliament. Point of Order Mr JOHNSON: The Leader of the House is going way beyond the bounds of answering the question that was put to him. There is no relevance in his answer whatsoever. The question related to a federal minister and had nothing to do with what is going on in WA with regard to One Nation. I ask the Speaker to draw the minister to a conclusion. The SPEAKER: The minister is answering the question as he sees fit. My concern is the number of interjections, which have prolonged this question beyond the time in which it should have been answered. Questions without Notice Resumed Mr KOBELKE: I was drawing my answer to a conclusion. The level of interjection opposite is reflective of the poor standard we have in the Liberal Party in State Parliament. Prime Minister Howard has drawn a similar conclusion about his Liberal federal colleagues from Western Australia, which leaves Western Australia, a State that should have more than adequate representation in the federal ministry, well under-represented. Unfortunately, that is to the detriment of this State.
I thank the member for the question. It is of concern to the Government that it appears no-one in the Howard ministry has responsibility for consumer affairs. We have a range of matters on which we must work collectively with the federal Government and with other States because it is advantageous to have provisions that apply to consumer protection and consumer affairs nationally. This Government deals proactively with matters of fuel pricing, particularly the unacceptable disparity in the price of fuel between Perth and regional Western Australia. We have sought also to have the Commonwealth become involved in that matter because it has considerable powers under the Trade Practices Act. We sought to contact the relevant minister in the federal Government to find out whether we could get a specific reference to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. I thought it was our fault that we did not know who the new federal minister for consumer protection was because the Howard Government was sworn in 11 days ago. Yesterday, we contacted the Ministerial Council on Consumer Affairs secretariat, which is part of the federal Treasury, to ask who is the minister responsible for consumer affairs. The person we spoke to did not know and suggested that we ring the Prime Minister’s office. We rang the Prime Minister’s office and were told that the minister for consumer protection had been Mr Joe Hockey. Again we asked who was the current minister for consumer protection and the Prime Minister’s office suggested that we call Treasury because it has responsibility. We rang Treasury and were told that the Prime Minister had not yet made a decision. When the Prime Minister gets around to deciding who will be the federal minister responsible for consumer affairs, we might actually know. The federal Opposition has already nominated Senator Nick Sherry to be responsible for the consumer affairs portfolio. It is a sad indictment of the Howard Government that it does not take consumer affairs seriously. I hope that by the time we get around to our scheduled ministerial council next February, Prime Minister Howard might have got around to appointing a minister, at least, to be responsible for this portfolio area. However, given the level of interjection, I must draw attention to the fact that Prime Minister Howard does not seem to have much interest in Western Australia. We only have one federal minister from Western Australia. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, members! Mr KOBELKE: That leaves some conjecture as to whether the poor quality of membership of the Western Australian Liberal Party has left the Prime Minister with no-one to choose from, or whether the Leader of the Opposition’s stand in support of One Nation has put the Western Australian Liberal Party offside with the Prime Minister and led to the lack of decent Western Australian Liberal representation in federal Parliament. Point of Order Mr JOHNSON: The Leader of the House is going way beyond the bounds of answering the question that was put to him. There is no relevance in his answer whatsoever. The question related to a federal minister and had nothing to do with what is going on in WA with regard to One Nation. I ask the Speaker to draw the minister to a conclusion. The SPEAKER: The minister is answering the question as he sees fit. My concern is the number of interjections, which have prolonged this question beyond the time in which it should have been answered. Questions without Notice Resumed Mr KOBELKE: I was drawing my answer to a conclusion. The level of interjection opposite is reflective of the poor standard we have in the Liberal Party in State Parliament. Prime Minister Howard has drawn a similar conclusion about his Liberal federal colleagues from Western Australia, which leaves Western Australia, a State that should have more than adequate representation in the federal ministry, well under-represented. Unfortunately, that is to the detriment of this State.
We sought to contact the relevant minister in the federal Government to find out whether we could get a specific reference to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. I thought it was our fault that we did not know who the new federal minister for consumer protection was because the Howard Government was sworn in 11 days ago. Yesterday, we contacted the Ministerial Council on Consumer Affairs secretariat, which is part of the federal Treasury, to ask who is the minister responsible for consumer affairs. The person we spoke to did not know and suggested that we ring the Prime Minister’s office. We rang the Prime Minister’s office and were told that the minister for consumer protection had been Mr Joe Hockey. Again we asked who was the current minister for consumer protection and the Prime Minister’s office suggested that we call Treasury because it has responsibility. We rang Treasury and were told that the Prime Minister had not yet made a decision. When the Prime Minister gets around to deciding who will be the federal minister responsible for consumer affairs, we might actually know. The federal Opposition has already nominated Senator Nick Sherry to be responsible for the consumer affairs portfolio. It is a sad indictment of the Howard Government that it does not take consumer affairs seriously. I hope that by the time we get around to our scheduled ministerial council next February, Prime Minister Howard might have got around to appointing a minister, at least, to be responsible for this portfolio area. However, given the level of interjection, I must draw attention to the fact that Prime Minister Howard does not seem to have much interest in Western Australia. We only have one federal minister from Western Australia. Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, members! Mr KOBELKE: That leaves some conjecture as to whether the poor quality of membership of the Western Australian Liberal Party has left the Prime Minister with no-one to choose from, or whether the Leader of the Opposition’s stand in support of One Nation has put the Western Australian Liberal Party offside with the Prime Minister and led to the lack of decent Western Australian Liberal representation in federal Parliament. Point of Order Mr JOHNSON: The Leader of the House is going way beyond the bounds of answering the question that was put to him. There is no relevance in his answer whatsoever. The question related to a federal minister and had nothing to do with what is going on in WA with regard to One Nation. I ask the Speaker to draw the minister to a conclusion. The SPEAKER: The minister is answering the question as he sees fit. My concern is the number of interjections, which have prolonged this question beyond the time in which it should have been answered. Questions without Notice Resumed Mr KOBELKE: I was drawing my answer to a conclusion. The level of interjection opposite is reflective of the poor standard we have in the Liberal Party in State Parliament. Prime Minister Howard has drawn a similar conclusion about his Liberal federal colleagues from Western Australia, which leaves Western Australia, a State that should have more than adequate representation in the federal ministry, well under-represented. Unfortunately, that is to the detriment of this State.
Several members interjected. The SPEAKER: Order, members! Mr KOBELKE: That leaves some conjecture as to whether the poor quality of membership of the Western Australian Liberal Party has left the Prime Minister with no-one to choose from, or whether the Leader of the Opposition’s stand in support of One Nation has put the Western Australian Liberal Party offside with the Prime Minister and led to the lack of decent Western Australian Liberal representation in federal Parliament. Point of Order Mr JOHNSON: The Leader of the House is going way beyond the bounds of answering the question that was put to him. There is no relevance in his answer whatsoever. The question related to a federal minister and had nothing to do with what is going on in WA with regard to One Nation. I ask the Speaker to draw the minister to a conclusion. The SPEAKER: The minister is answering the question as he sees fit. My concern is the number of interjections, which have prolonged this question beyond the time in which it should have been answered. Questions without Notice Resumed Mr KOBELKE: I was drawing my answer to a conclusion. The level of interjection opposite is reflective of the poor standard we have in the Liberal Party in State Parliament. Prime Minister Howard has drawn a similar conclusion about his Liberal federal colleagues from Western Australia, which leaves Western Australia, a State that should have more than adequate representation in the federal ministry, well under-represented. Unfortunately, that is to the detriment of this State.
The SPEAKER: Order, members! Mr KOBELKE: That leaves some conjecture as to whether the poor quality of membership of the Western Australian Liberal Party has left the Prime Minister with no-one to choose from, or whether the Leader of the Opposition’s stand in support of One Nation has put the Western Australian Liberal Party offside with the Prime Minister and led to the lack of decent Western Australian Liberal representation in federal Parliament. Point of Order Mr JOHNSON: The Leader of the House is going way beyond the bounds of answering the question that was put to him. There is no relevance in his answer whatsoever. The question related to a federal minister and had nothing to do with what is going on in WA with regard to One Nation. I ask the Speaker to draw the minister to a conclusion. The SPEAKER: The minister is answering the question as he sees fit. My concern is the number of interjections, which have prolonged this question beyond the time in which it should have been answered. Questions without Notice Resumed Mr KOBELKE: I was drawing my answer to a conclusion. The level of interjection opposite is reflective of the poor standard we have in the Liberal Party in State Parliament. Prime Minister Howard has drawn a similar conclusion about his Liberal federal colleagues from Western Australia, which leaves Western Australia, a State that should have more than adequate representation in the federal ministry, well under-represented. Unfortunately, that is to the detriment of this State.
Mr KOBELKE: That leaves some conjecture as to whether the poor quality of membership of the Western Australian Liberal Party has left the Prime Minister with no-one to choose from, or whether the Leader of the Opposition’s stand in support of One Nation has put the Western Australian Liberal Party offside with the Prime Minister and led to the lack of decent Western Australian Liberal representation in federal Parliament. Point of Order Mr JOHNSON: The Leader of the House is going way beyond the bounds of answering the question that was put to him. There is no relevance in his answer whatsoever. The question related to a federal minister and had nothing to do with what is going on in WA with regard to One Nation. I ask the Speaker to draw the minister to a conclusion. The SPEAKER: The minister is answering the question as he sees fit. My concern is the number of interjections, which have prolonged this question beyond the time in which it should have been answered. Questions without Notice Resumed Mr KOBELKE: I was drawing my answer to a conclusion. The level of interjection opposite is reflective of the poor standard we have in the Liberal Party in State Parliament. Prime Minister Howard has drawn a similar conclusion about his Liberal federal colleagues from Western Australia, which leaves Western Australia, a State that should have more than adequate representation in the federal ministry, well under-represented. Unfortunately, that is to the detriment of this State.
The SPEAKER: The minister is answering the question as he sees fit. My concern is the number of interjections, which have prolonged this question beyond the time in which it should have been answered. Questions without Notice Resumed Mr KOBELKE: I was drawing my answer to a conclusion. The level of interjection opposite is reflective of the poor standard we have in the Liberal Party in State Parliament. Prime Minister Howard has drawn a similar conclusion about his Liberal federal colleagues from Western Australia, which leaves Western Australia, a State that should have more than adequate representation in the federal ministry, well under-represented. Unfortunately, that is to the detriment of this State.
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