Ms MACKLIN (3:38 PM) —Mr Speaker, on 27 June this year I raised with you for the second time, in accordance with standing order 150, the failure of the Minister for Health and Aged Care to answer questions on notice Nos 460 and 461, which I asked on 8 March 1999. Eighteen months have passed since these questions were placed on notice, and I have not received an answer from the minister despite the two letters you have written to him. The minister is treating the parliament with contempt. What sanctions can you impose to get ministers like the Minister for Health and Aged Care to respond to your requests?

Mr SPEAKER —The chair is confined by precisely the same standing orders as confined its predecessors. I have been in the chamber for 17 years, but I am not sure that it has been in place for the 17 years. The chair has a right and an obligation to ask that the question be responded to but, beyond that, the chair has no other authority.