❓ Hon Jon Ford asks about the Minister for Lands' official travel in government aircraft since February 2012, including destinations, purpose, and accompanying family members. The answer refers to a previous question answered in the Legislative Assembly.
AnsweredQoN 790Legislative Council
QuestionView source ↗
MINISTER FOR LANDS — OFFICIAL
TRAVEL — GOVERNMENT AIRCRAFT
790. Hon JON FORD to the parliamentary secretary
representing the Minister for Lands:
I refer to official ministerial travel in government aircraft
since 1 February 2012.
(1) By month,
how many flights, and to what destinations, has the minister had?
(2) What was the purpose of the travel?
(3) Did any
family members accompany the minister on any of the flights and when?
TRAVEL — GOVERNMENT AIRCRAFT
790. Hon JON FORD to the parliamentary secretary
representing the Minister for Lands:
I refer to official ministerial travel in government aircraft
since 1 February 2012.
(1) By month,
how many flights, and to what destinations, has the minister had?
(2) What was the purpose of the travel?
(3) Did any
family members accompany the minister on any of the flights and when?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the honourable member for some notice of this
question. The minister has provided the following response —
The information sought by the member has already been
provided in response to Legislative Assembly question 8304, asked on 7 August
2012 by Mr M. McGowan, and answered on 12 September 2012. I refer the member to
that response.
Point of Order
Hon
ED DERMER : Mr President, I
understood that the idea of having a bicameral system of Parliament is that we
would act separately and without reference to the other chamber. I would like
your ruling on whether it is orderly for a minister to answer a question by
reference to something that occurred in the Legislative Assembly.
Ruling by President Ruling
The
PRESIDENT : Members,
standing order 104, I think it is, just says that answers have to be concise
and relevant. There are conventions, though, that apply in reference to the
other place. However, if a question is answered in a way that provides
information that is relevant, then I deem it to be perfectly in order; but
there are blurred lines that we do not cross, and several times answers have
contained references to a website, and that is a problem, as you know, because
websites can change over time. The Hansard of a question in the other place is unlikely to change. But there is a
convention that we operate as a separate house, and the information is, and
should be, made available in this house in answer to a question. I think the
answer is perfectly okay because it provides relevant information. The question
could have been answered in a different way perhaps—that the
information was tabled or something like that.
question. The minister has provided the following response —
The information sought by the member has already been
provided in response to Legislative Assembly question 8304, asked on 7 August
2012 by Mr M. McGowan, and answered on 12 September 2012. I refer the member to
that response.
Point of Order
Hon
ED DERMER : Mr President, I
understood that the idea of having a bicameral system of Parliament is that we
would act separately and without reference to the other chamber. I would like
your ruling on whether it is orderly for a minister to answer a question by
reference to something that occurred in the Legislative Assembly.
Ruling by President Ruling
The
PRESIDENT : Members,
standing order 104, I think it is, just says that answers have to be concise
and relevant. There are conventions, though, that apply in reference to the
other place. However, if a question is answered in a way that provides
information that is relevant, then I deem it to be perfectly in order; but
there are blurred lines that we do not cross, and several times answers have
contained references to a website, and that is a problem, as you know, because
websites can change over time. The Hansard of a question in the other place is unlikely to change. But there is a
convention that we operate as a separate house, and the information is, and
should be, made available in this house in answer to a question. I think the
answer is perfectly okay because it provides relevant information. The question
could have been answered in a different way perhaps—that the
information was tabled or something like that.
Explore WA Government Data
Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.
Explore more
Government Gazette
Appointments, regulatory notices, planning changes.
Hansard
Debates, questions, speeches and sentiment.
Tabled Papers
Reports and documents tabled in Parliament.
Committees
Committee profiles and recent reports.
Regulations
Subsidiary legislation with filters and summaries.
Bills
Proposed laws and parliamentary progress.
Acts
Current WA legislation and summaries.
Explanatory Memoranda
Bills with EMs (text/PDF) available.
Members
MP profiles, party breakdown and rankings.
Pollie Rankings
Data-driven rankings across 19 categories.
Amendment Chains
Track how schemes and regulations evolve over time.