Mr SHORTEN (Maribyrnong—Leader of the Opposition) (14:42): My question is to the Prime Minister. Yesterday the Leader of the House said, and I quote, 'The Constitution, of course, allows a person to be a minister for three months after they've been deemed not to be eligible.' Is it seriously government policy that ministers will keep their jobs for three months after being disqualified by the High Court? The SPEAKER: The Leader of the House on a point of order? Mr Pyne: Mr Speaker, the question is entirely hypothetical. As you have said before, the member for New England is entitled to be the member for New England in the House until the High Court rules otherwise. As a consequence, these fishing expedition hypothetical questions should be ruled out of order. The SPEAKER: I'll hear from the Manager of Opposition Business. Mr Burke: Mr Speaker, the question asks what the government policy is. If there's no government policy, he can say that there's no government policy. But the question asks what the government policy is. Mr Pyne interjecting— The SPEAKER: If the Leader of the House ceases interjecting, I can come to his point of order. I would just point out to the Leader of the House that I haven't made comments about eligibility. I've pointed out that, to the extent that I have constitutional responsibilities, they don't relate at all to the matter of eligibility; they relate to swearing members in and other matters. The question did ask whether it was government policy. On that basis, I think that, whilst the Leader of the House could point out that he thinks it offends the standing orders, there have been many questions asked about government policy—about whether the government has a particular policy or whether, in a different circumstance, it would adopt a different policy. So I'm going to allow the question. I call the Prime Minister.