Alan Ferguson (President) Share this | Hansard source

On 14 February 2008, Senator Ian Macdonald asked whether the President had any power to require ministers who are correcting answers to table the corrections so that interested senators could read them immediately. At the time I said that it was the responsibility of ministers to answer the questions and to correct those answers if necessary.

The practice has always been for supplementary information provided by ministers to be incorporated in Hansard and, of course, oral corrections by ministers to their answers appear in Hansard. This makes them much more readily available than if they were simply tabled. If they are available in writing at the time of delivery, senators can ask the attendants for an immediate copy. While supplementary answers are often in writing, oral corrections to answers are often not available in writing so senators present in the chamber can only listen to them and check them in the Hansard later.

May I suggest to ministers that, when making corrections, they provide those corrections to answers in writing wherever possible. In this way, interested senators who are unable to be in the chamber when the corrections are given may nonetheless gain quick access to a copy of the corrections.