One of the functions of parliament is to scrutinise the government (the executive). The Premier and different Ministers must answer questions from Members of Parliament about how they are running their different portfolios.
Questions Without Notice
Ministers are scrutinised by answering questions put to them by other Members of Parliament. For one hour every sitting day, each House of Parliament has “question time.” This is also called “questions without notice” – because the Members don’t know what questions they will be getting. Ministers can sometimes guess the questions based on what is happening in the news, but the idea is that they could be asked a question on anything to do with their portfolio and they have to be accountable for it. Ministers will usually walk into the chamber with a folder of supporting notes from the public service staff who work for them.
Questions on Notice
There is also a system which lets Members put written questions to Ministers. Because they are put on the Notice Paper (the Parliament’s agenda) and Ministers have time to prepare answers, these are called “questions on notice.” Ministers respond to these questions in writing. You can browse the questions on notice databases online.
Watch more here: