About the seminar

In September 1987 the House of Representatives established a system of general purpose standing committees to inquire and report upon activity undertaken by the Commonwealth Government. Together with the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade, the committee system provided the House with the ability to scrutinise the entire range of government activity. On 15 February 2008 the Speaker of the House hosted a seminar to mark twenty years of operation of the House committee system.

Presenters' papers

Professor John Langmore

Introduction to session one: overview (PDF 18 KB)

Mr Rod Sawford

Overall contribution of the House of Representatives Committee System (PDF 101 KB)

Professor Ian Marsh

Can parliamentary committees contribute to 'social learning'? (PDF 200 KB)

Ms Siobhan Leyne

The changing role of parliamentary committees and the place of the community (PDF 174 KB)

Hon. Kevin Rozzoli

Evolution of the committee system in the House of Representatives (PDF 123KB)

Professor Geoffrey Lindell

Future directions and developments (PDF 89 KB)

Dr Phil Larkin

The changing committee system of the British Parliament (PDF 152 KB)

Background discussion papers

Dr Phil Larkin

The committees of the House of Representatives in comparative perspective (PDF 164 KB)

Mr John Baczynski

House committee use of information communication technology (PDF 171 KB)

Ms Catherine Cornish

Parliament to the people and back again: a discussion of the House Legal Committee's inquiry into human cloning and stem cell research (PDF 137 KB)

Ms Clare James

Government responses to parliamentary inquiries (PDF 220 KB)

Mr David Monk

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder: A framework for testing the effectiveness of parliamentary committees (PDF 186 KB)

Mr David Monk

A statistical analysis of government responses to committee reports: Reports tabled between the 2001 and 2004 elections (PDF 262 KB)

Mr Mark Rodrigues

Parliamentary inquiries as a form of policy evaluation (PDF 85 KB)