Who decides who gets to ask questions during question time?

In both the Senate and the House of Representatives, the order of questions during Question Time is controlled by the Presiding Officers – the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives. They use the standing orders, advice from party whips and established conventions – traditions – to manage who will ask questions. They decide who gets ‘the call’ – permission to speak – and make sure Question Time runs fairly and smoothly.

Within each party, the whips organise which of their members will ask questions and then inform the President of the Senate or Speaker of the House of Representatives. The President and Speaker generally agree to use this advice when deciding who to call on to ask a question.

The Presiding Officers alternate the call between the government, opposition and the crossbench. In both the Senate and the House of Representatives:

  • the first question always comes from the opposition
  • questions generally alternate between government and non-government members of parliament in proportion to the number of members in each party or group. This helps ensure each party and independent members of parliament have a fair chance to ask questions.

The President keeps a Question Time roster which means minor party and independent senators are notified in advance of their allotted opportunities to ask questions. In the House, specific opportunities are set aside for crossbench members to ask questions during Question Time. The members of the crossbench decide amongst themselves who will take these allotted question spots.

The Prime Minister answers a question during Question Time in the House of Representatives.

Question Time in the House of Representatives

Parliamentary Education Office (peo.gov.au), DPS AUSPIC

Question Time in the House of Representatives

The Prime Minister answers a question during Question Time in the House of Representatives.

Parliamentary Education Office (peo.gov.au), DPS AUSPIC

Description

This image shows the main people involved in Question Time in the House of Representatives:

  1. An opposition member asks the Prime Minister a question
  2. The Prime Minister answers the opposition member's question
  3. A Government member asks a minister a question
  4. The minister answer the government member's question.

Questions to the Prime Minister and ministers continue alternating between government and non-government members.

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