Mr DICK (Oxley) (14:14): My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Agriculture. Can the minister explain how a text message sent by the Minister for Agriculture to the Deputy Prime Minister last Wednesday about the Inland Rail route appeared in The Weekend Australian? Does the Minister for Agriculture agree with the Deputy Prime Minister that the Inland Rail route is settled? The SPEAKER: The Leader of the House on a point of order. Mr Dutton: That is not a topic that the Deputy Prime Minister could have any knowledge of— Mr Burke: What? Inland Rail! The SPEAKER: Members on my left! Mr Dutton: and a text message sent to somebody else allegedly by somebody is not within the knowledge of the Deputy Prime Minister. The question is out of order. The SPEAKER: The Manager of Opposition Business on the point of order. Mr Burke: I'm a bit astonished! Sorry—to the point of order. The SPEAKER: I'm perpetually astonished! But anyway, go on. Mr Burke: To the point of order: the Leader of the House is alleging that the Deputy Prime Minister is not in a position to answer whether or not a text message was sent to him, and it's about Inland Rail, for which he is responsible. The SPEAKER: The point I'm going to make—and I can take members through Practice if you really want me to—is ministers can't be just asked about newspaper reports, reports in party rooms, allegations left, right and centre. That's been well established, and I'm conscious of not going over it all. I will if I have to, but it just eats up a lot of question time. Mr Burke: Without disputing anything you just put there about newspaper reports and the like, the substance of this is two things: one, it relates to a message between one minister and another, between the minister the Deputy Prime Minister is representing and himself about Inland Rail, and, two, asks whether or not the Inland Rail route is settled. The Deputy Prime Minister has to be responsible for that. He has to be able to answer that and— The SPEAKER: I'll tell you what I'll do. Most of the question is out of order about text messages and newspaper reports. It's not in the position for the chair to judge the accuracy of those, just as I can't judge the accuracy of claims made in questions and answers. But, in terms of the policy topic of the Inland Rail, the Deputy Prime Minister can answer. But, as I've pointed out before, he's not terribly confined given the nature of the question that's been asked.