Question time
During the Keating Government, the prime minister attempted to limit the number of questions asked in a way the Liberal Opposition disapproved of.
To protest the change, the Opposition made random quorum calls through the afternoon for every question they felt they had been denied that day.
Tactically, it is considered an important defining characteristic for an Opposition Leader to be able ask a pertinent question of the prime minister or premier, or to single out perceived weak performers in the Ministry.
The Ceann Comhairle (speaker) has wide discretion on allowing questions, which are directed to the minister in charge of the relevant Department of State.
Questions requiring departmental research may not have an answer available within the three-day notice period; these tend to be submitted for written rather than oral response.
Reforms in 2016 at the start of the 32nd Dáil created separate time slots for different types of question, and empower the Ceann Comhairle to demand a further response if the initial one is deemed inadequate.
[10] Japan's question time was closely modeled after that of the UK, and many Diet members travelled to the House of Commons to study the British application of the concept.
He described this as a pilot, and said that amendments to the house's standing orders would be required to make question time a regular part of parliamentary proceedings.
Before a question is asked it is checked that it meets the requirements of the House's standing orders, before being transmitted to the relevant ministers.
Also, New Zealand's free-to-air digital television network, Freeview, provides live coverage of the debating chamber when it is in session on Parliament TV.
Describing his approach to presiding over Question Time, Tan has said: "I will be permissive and expansive where possible to optimise productive exchanges.
For instance, after the Minister’s verbal reply, I will let MPs continue asking Supplementary Questions (SQs) for further clarifications.
[15] In addition to government departments, there are also questions regarding the Church of England, House of Commons reform and Law Rulings.
The Speaker will usually call other MPs to ask further supplementary questions and this will often include Opposition front bench spokespersons.
A second ballot enables MPs to put forward their names to ask a topical question for which no notice is required.
[citation needed] Additionally, each Member of Parliament is entitled to table an unlimited number of written questions.
Written Questions are submitted to the Clerks of the Table Office, either on paper or electronically, and are recorded in The Official Report (Hansard) so as to be widely available and accessible.
Afterwards, for around ten minutes, any Lord can ask the Minister questions on the theme of the original put down on the order paper.
[16] The Lords usually do not have a call list, as the Commons does, so Peers rise to ask a question themselves and they alternate between the Government, opposition and crossbench sides of the chamber.
The exact meaning of this clause has never been worked out fully, although it is the constitutional basis for the modern State of the Union address.
President George H. W. Bush once said of PMQs, "I count my blessings for the fact I don't have to go into that pit that John Major stands in, nose-to-nose with the opposition, all yelling at each other.
[21] In a policy speech on 15 May 2008, which outlined a number of ideas, McCain said, "I will ask Congress to grant me the privilege of coming before both houses to take questions, and address criticism, much the same as the Prime Minister of Great Britain [sic] appears regularly before the House of Commons.
Will ended the piece by saying, "Congress should remind a President McCain that the 16 blocks separating the Capitol from the White House nicely express the nation's constitutional geography.
"[23] In February 2009, just over a month after his inauguration, President Barack Obama invited serving members of the US Senate to a "fiscal responsibility" summit at the White House, during which Senators asked the president about his fiscal policies in an event which was compared to Prime Minister's Question.
[25] Commenting on the event, Peter Baker in The New York Times, said "[the] back and forth resembled the British tradition where the prime minister submits to questions on the floor of the House of Commons – something Senator John McCain had promised to do if elected president.
"[26] In Hungary's Parliament, the hour of immediate questions (azonnali kérdések órája) is held once every week when the National Assembly is in session[27], for at least 60 minutes.
In the first round, opposition groups ask their questions first, in descending order of their number of representatives, then the ruling parties.
