Mr ALBANESE (Grayndler—Leader of the Opposition) (14:33): My question is to the Prime Minister. Thirty days ago, the Prime Minister told this House that he asked his former chief of staff, one of the few people he's ever shown empathy for, to verify what his office knew about the reported sexual assault of Brittany Higgins only metres from where he works. Mr Gaetjens reported his findings on the Prime Minister's sports rorts within two weeks. Why is this report, about the Prime Minister's staff, taking so long, and will the Prime Minister release this report when it is received? The SPEAKER: Just before I call the Prime Minister, I'm just going to say to the Leader of the Opposition, if it hadn't been he as Leader of the Opposition asking the question, I would have simply moved to the next question. Whilst questions can have preambles, that character inclusion really is inappropriate. And we're not going to have questions where there's a commentary about the person being asked the question. So I'm going to ask the Leader of the Opposition to rephrase his question. Mr ALBANESE: My question is to the Prime Minister. Thirty days ago, the Prime Minister told this House that he had asked his former chief of staff to verify what his office knew about the reported sexual assault of Brittany Higgins only metres from where he works. Mr Gaetjens reported his findings on the Prime Minister's sports rorts within two weeks. Why is this report about the Prime Minister's staff taking so long? Will the Prime Minister release this report when it is received? The SPEAKER: The Leader of the House. Mr Dutton: Mr Speaker, clearly the first part of that question is out of order, because it is not within the Prime Minister's responsibility to comment on behalf of the head of his department. Opposition members interjecting— The SPEAKER: Members on my left! Mr Dutton: The head of his department has a process underway, and the Prime Minister— Opposition members interjecting— The SPEAKER: The Leader of the House will pause. Members on my left will cease interjecting—the members for Perth, Franklin and others. Mr Dutton: Mr Speaker— The SPEAKER: No, just pause for a second. As I've said, interjections are disorderly at all times. But, when you're expecting the chair to listen to the point of order and rule on the question, I'm inclined to say to those on my left, if you create a wall of noise when I'm trying to rule on it, I'll just go to the next question. Really, it's the most counterproductive thing you could do. The Leader of the House will be heard. He will be heard now in silence, just as the Manager of Opposition Business is. The Leader of the House, if you could start again. Mr Dutton: Under standing order 98, the Prime Minister does not have responsibility for answering a question that is outside of his responsibility. The fact is that the departmental secretary has a process underway, and the question goes to the timing of that reporting. That is not possible for the Prime Minister to answer. It is a question for the secretary of the department, perhaps in estimates, but not in question time to the Prime Minister. That part of the question should be ruled out of order. The SPEAKER: The Manager of Opposition Business. Ms Plibersek interjecting— The SPEAKER: Member for Sydney, I'm trying to listen to the Manager of Opposition Business. The Manager of Opposition Business has the call. Mr Burke: It's hard to know where to start. But on the point of order— Honourable members interjecting— The SPEAKER: Just while we're trying to deal with this, the member for Goldstein is lurking, ready to ask a question. It's not going to happen straightaway. If you want to stretch your legs, do it outside. Otherwise, take your seat, please. You won't be asking it, if you keep doing that. The Manager of Opposition Business. Mr Burke: I'll go directly to the standing order that the Leader of the House referred to. He referred to standing order 98, where the limitations on what you can be asked are found in subsection (c), where there's a list of three things: public affairs, administration and proceedings. Proceedings in the House is the first part of the question, because it references what the Prime Minister previously told the House. In terms of public affairs, I think it would be hard to argue that the government response to the reported sexual assault of Brittany Higgins has not become part of public affairs. In terms of administration, if there is any part of the administration of government that the Prime Minister should have a level of responsibility for, it is the head of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. We have previously had questions about all parts of the bureaucracy. If a question about the head of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet is out of order, then there's actually not much you're allowed to ask about. The SPEAKER: I'll just rule on this now so that we can move on, having heard both points of order. I appreciate the point the Leader of the House is endeavouring to make, but there is a long history of allowing these questions, even where, I have to say, in fairness, they might be difficult or impossible to answer. They can be asked, but, if they're unanswerable at this point, that's something that will become clear in the answer. And certainly the one thing we all agree on is that the last part of the question is clearly in order, because that's directly within the Prime Minister's purview. So I call the Prime Minister.