Please don't say that, SA MPs told
South Australian parliamentarians have been ordered not to say 'please' when asking questions during question time.
The state's bewigged speaker, Peter Lewis, says it is a form of begging and it has been banned for 300 years.
During question time, National MP Karlene Maywald thought she was being polite asking a question about water restrictions: 'Can the Minister please advise the House when he will make public the framework?' she said.
Speaker Peter Lewis took exception to her language. 'The word 'please' is to beg, no honourable member in this place needs to beg any minister for anything, least of all an answer,' he said.
Ms Maywald sought a further clarification. 'I spend most of my time outside this House insisting that my daughter use the word please when asking a question,' she said. 'And I wonder whether or not is it against standing orders to use the word please?'
'Explicitly,' Mr Lewis replied. He said that had been the case for 300 years of parliamentary practice.
[300 years? Didn't Australia recently celebrate its second century as a nation?]
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