Senator GALLAGHER (Australian Capital Territory—Minister for the Public Service, Minister for Finance, Minister for Women, Manager of Government Business in the Senate and Vice-President of the Executive Council) (14:43): I thank Senator McKenzie for the question, and I don't see any inconsistency in those statements at all. But I am happy to talk about the issue of aviation and competition and the fact that we are cleaning up a mess that we've inherited, yet again. Let's think of all of the areas that we are actually having to deal with after a decade of failure. I don't even know what you were all doing when you came to work, but it obviously was not very much, because we inherited an energy crisis, we had pressures in health, we had pressures in infrastructure and we had pressures in aviation. The PRESIDENT: Minister Gallagher, please resume your seat. Senator Birmingham? Senator Birmingham: President, I think this is a very clear case of direct relevance and I'm sure—I could almost feel it in your body language—that, if I hadn't stood when I did, you were about to draw the minister to the question. In the first 30 seconds, she decided to pivot purely to a commentary on the previous government, having been asked a question that solely covered statements of the Prime Minister about the aviation market and a quote from the Aviation green paper and sought clarification of the consistency between those statements. The question was entirely, exclusively about the aviation market and its competitiveness or its concentration. The PRESIDENT: Thank you, Senator Birmingham. Senator Watt on a point of order? Senator Watt: I have a point of order, President. You may well be aware of this, but anyone listening to Senator Gallagher's answer would realise that she answered it in the first three or four seconds. She is obviously entitled to carry on her answer as she chooses after that. Honourable senators interjecting— The PRESIDENT: Order! Interjections across the chamber— Senator Watt interjecting— The PRESIDENT: Senator Watt! I have the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate on his feet. Senator Birmingham. Senator Birmingham: To Senator Watt's point: it is not in order for a minister if they have answered the question to then speak about any other topic of zero relevance to the question they were asked. An answer to a question in its entirety needs to be directly relevant. Context, as previous Presidents have ruled, can be provided, but the minister was very plainly not providing context to a question specifically about the aviation market and its competitiveness. The PRESIDENT: Thank you, Senator Birmingham. I seek the advice of the Clerk. I am advised that the minister did answer the question in the first few seconds of her response, but she has strayed. I remind her of your point of order. Minister Gallagher. Senator GALLAGHER: Thank you for that direction, President. I will come back to the aviation green paper, which was referenced in Senator McKenzie's question. It has been released today. It is the next step in setting up the sector's long-term future. It is part of cleaning up the mess, as I said, that we inherited from those opposite, who clearly did nothing in the last decade. We want a more competitive sector, one with stronger protections and better accessibility for those with a disability. We want to keep our world-leading safety record in an industry— The PRESIDENT: Minister Gallagher, please resume your seat. Senator McKenzie? Senator McKenzie: I have a point of order, Madam President. The answer that the minister gave was that she saw no inconsistency between the Prime Minister's comments and the green paper's comments, between being the most competitive in the world and being one of the most concentrated— The PRESIDENT: I think you're getting onto a debating point. Senator McKenzie: She has literally just proved the inconsistency between the two comments. The PRESIDENT: Senator McKenzie, that's an indulgence. It's a debating point. Minister Gallagher, please continue. Senator GALLAGHER: As I said, this aviation green paper is to essentially look at how we create and deliver the best aviation sector that we can both internationally and domestically. It's because of the failure of the former government that we are starting this work now, because it hasn't been done and it wasn't done in their term. It is right that we have the green paper, we go out and have further consultations, and then there will be a white paper to ensure that we get the best outcomes across the board. That's for the aviation industry itself. It's for consumers. It's to ensure that we are ensuring competition and promoting competition where we can in a complex industry that operates— (Time expired) The PRESIDENT: Senator McKenzie, first supplementary?