Annual Report 2003–04
Appendix 5—Public awareness activities undertaken by
departmental officers
During 2003–04, the Clerk and other senior officers made presentations
to various groups of interested people, such as:
- parliamentary officers and interns
- visitors’ guides at Parliament House and Old Parliament
House
- parliamentary committees
- overseas visitors, including parliamentary delegations
- individual members of parliament and their staff
- participants in the Australian Defence Force Parliamentary Program,
the Australian Rural Leadership Program, the annual Commercial
Teachers’ Association conference, and the Australian Public
Service Commission Senior Executive Service Orientation Program.
Senior officers also conducted professional development seminars
for senators’ staff, staff from a wide range of Australian
Public Service agencies, and departmental staff participating in
the PEP UP and STEP UP programs.
The Clerk Assistant (Procedure) gave specialised presentations on
the powers, procedures and operations of the Senate and its committees,
to audiences from:
- academic institutions, including the Australian National University
Legal Workshop, the National Centre for Democratic Institutions
and the Asia Pacific School of Economics and Government
- the Australian Public Service Commission Senior Women in Management
Program
- the Australian Federal Police Management of Serious Crime Program
- the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Leadership and Development
Program for Locally Engaged Staff.
Several staff in the Procedure Office and the Committee Office contributed
articles to Campus Review, a tertiary education sector newspaper
published fortnightly.
Departmental officers also presented and published papers on the
powers, procedures and operations of the Senate or related issues,
as shown in the table below.
Papers produced by departmental officers
| ‘Response to Bernadette Tobin: The Ethics of Cloning’,
chapter in God Downunder: Theology in the Antipodes, eds.
Winifred Wing Han Lamb and Ian Barns |
2003 |
| ‘Fitzpatrick and Browne: Imprisonment by a House of
Parliament’, chapter in Australian Constitutional Landmarks, eds. HP Lee
and G Winterton |
2003 |
| Members of Parliament staff—code of conduct—operation,
submission to the Senate Finance and Public Administration References
Committee |
August
2003 |
| Background Paper―Protecting Classified and Security
Sensitive Information, submission to the Australian Law
Reform Commission |
August
2003 |
| Legislative Instruments Bill 2003,submission to
the Standing Committee on Regulations and Ordinances |
August
2003 |
| The Senate’s power to obtain evidence and parliamentary ‘conventions’,
paper prepared for the Finance and Public Administration References
Committee |
September 2003 |
| Execution of a search warrant by the Independent Commission
Against Corruption in the office of a member of the Legislative
Council, submission to the New South Wales Committee
on Parliamentary Privilege and Ethics |
October
2003 |
| ‘When in Rome, can we do as the Americans do?’,
article in The Canberra Times |
21 October
2003 |
| Section 57 of the Constitution: the Prime Minister’s
discussion paper, submission to the Consultative Group,
Constitutional Change, Department of the Prime Minister and
Cabinet |
November
2003 |
| ‘Consultation with a closed mind’, article in The Courier Mail |
28 November
2003 |
| Parliament of Queensland (Change of Political Status) Bill 2003, submission
to the Queensland Select Committee on the Consequences of Changing
Political Status |
December
2003 |
| ‘Australia’s Senators in the Dark Age of the Twentieth
Century’, introduction to The Biographical Dictionary
of the Australian Senate, Volume 2, ed. A Millar |
2004 |
| ‘Accountability, Outsourcing and Advertising: The Australian
Senate takes unusual measures to scrutinise government expenditures’,
article in The Parliamentarian |
Issue Two
2004 |
| Parliamentary privilege—entry and search provisions,
submission to the Senate Standing Committee for the Scrutiny
of Bills |
February
2004 |
| Senate order for contracts,submission to the Senate
Finance and Public Administration References Committee |
March
2004 |
| ‘Why the Prime Minister’s proposals would dismantle
the Constitution’, presented at the Samuel Griffith Society
Conference, Perth |
March
2004 |
| Parliamentary control of appropriations, submission
to the Victorian Public Accounts and Estimates Committee |
April
2004 |
| ‘Constitutional change, bicameral relations and executive
monopoly’, presented at the Australasian Study of Parliament
Group Conference, Perth |
May
2004 |
| ‘Renewing the Public Sphere’, book review in The Canberra Times |
1 June
2004 |
| ‘Questions without answers: joint meetings of the Australian
Senate and House of Representatives’, article in The Table |
2004
(forthcoming) |
| Reviewing the House of Review, submission to the Consultative
Group, Constitutional Change, Department of the Prime Minister
and Cabinet |
November
2003 |
| ‘Senate Committees and the Commonwealth Ombudsman’,
presented at a Regional Ombudsman Officers Program, Australian
National University |
November
2003 |
