Friday, 14 November 2025

 The SPEAKER (14:03): Further, members will be aware that Hansard’s editorial policy involves the editing team correcting obvious slips of the tongue. The policy, which is on the members’ intranet, says:

Hansard is a substantially verbatim report of parliamentary proceedings. It is an accurate report of speeches devoid of redundancies, obvious grammatical errors, slips of the tongue and factual errors.

Members, including the Chair, often find edits of this kind very helpful in creating a more readable transcript, and this has happened historically on many occasions. I am advised by the Clerk that this is what has occurred in the case referred to in the Manager of Opposition Business’s point of order this morning. I remind all members that the daily proof Hansard is exactly that, a proof, generated overnight in tight timeframes. It is not the final, authorised version of the transcript published after the end of the sitting week, which is also subject to further review by the editing team.

I would like to acknowledge in the gallery the health minister of the Northern Territory the Honourable Steve Edgington MLA.

James Newbury: Speaker, on a point of order on the matter that you just spoke to in relation to the doctoring of Hansard, I would seek your guidance. You did mention that in this instance there had been confirmation from the Premier that it had been a slip of the tongue. However, I would seek your guidance. In an instance where the misspeak was actually the truth, is doctoring Hansard appropriate?

The SPEAKER: I have ruled on the point of order.