During 2007–08, the Clerk and other senior officers made presentations on aspects of the Senate, Senate committees and parliamentary procedure to various Australian and international audiences, including:
- parliamentary committees
- individual members of parliament and their staff
- departmental staff, other parliamentary officers and staff from a wide range of Australian Public Service agencies
- overseas visitors, including parliamentary delegations
- participants in conferences and seminars, including a number as part of programs conducted by the Australian National University Parliamentary Studies Centre and the Centre for Democratic Institutions
- schoolchildren and members of the public.
In particular, the Clerk:
- gave specialised presentations to the Vincent Fellowship Ethics in Leadership Program and The Benevolent Society’s Sydney Leadership Program
- gave evidence to
- the Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Public Administration on its inquiry into the Lobbying Code of Conduct
- the Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Estimates, Parliament of Victoria, on its inquiry into strengthening government and parliamentary accountability in Victoria.
Departmental officers also presented and published papers on the powers, procedures and operations of the Senate or related issues, as detailed below.
Papers produced by departmental officers, 2007–08
| Author |
Publication |
Date |
| Mr Harry Evans |
‘Parliamentary control of finance: bringing back the revolution’, The Table, Vol. 75 |
2007 |
| Parliamentary control and transparency of public finance: two Senate committee reports, paper for the Thirty-eighth Conference of Presiding Officers and Clerks, Cook Islands |
July 2007 |
| Overhaul of ‘Westminster’ could leave us behind, published as ‘Brown’s reforms impact on Australia’, Canberra Times |
July 2007 |
| The Senate, accountability and government control, paper for the Australian National University Parliamentary Studies Centre (PSC) Strengthening Parliamentary Institutions project |
November 2007 |
| Accountability and corporate governance in the new parliament, paper for the Eleventh Annual Corporate Governance in the Public Sector Conference, Institute for International Research |
March 2008 |
| Refurbishing parliamentary processes, published as chapter entitled ‘Parliament’, in Manne, R (ed.), Dear Mr Rudd: ideas for a better Australia, Black Inc. Agenda, Melbourne |
March 2008 |
| Ms Sophie Power and Ms Jackie Morris |
Factors which affect participation in Senate committee inquiries, paper for the PSC Strengthening Parliamentary Institutions project |
December 2007 |
| Dr Richard Grant and Mr Glenn Ryall |
Can we account for parliamentary committees? A survey of committee secretaries, paper for the PSC Strengthening Parliamentary Institutions project |
February 2008 |
| Dr Ian Holland |
Senate committees and the legislative process, paper for the PSC Strengthening Parliamentary Institutions project |
June 2008 |