Annual Report 2005–06

PDF 1002 KBOutput Group 3—Procedure Office

• Analysis
• Significant changes in functions and services
• Factors, events and trends influencing performance
• Evaluation
• Performance outlook

 

Output Group 3—Procedure Office

Outputs
Provision of legislative drafting services to non‑government senators Provision of secretariat support to the Regulations and Ordinances Committee and Scrutiny of Bills Committee. Provision of parliamentary information services to the community. Provision of parliamentary education services to schools, teachers and students. Provision of policy advice and secretariat support for the maintenance and development of interparliamentary relations, including the Inter‑Parliamentary Union, overseas conferences and delegations program for senators. Administered item Support for the Citizenship Visits Program for schoolchildren visiting Parliament House.
Performance indicators		Performance results
Quality	The degree of satisfaction of the President, Deputy President, committee members and senators, as expressed through formal and informal feedback mechanisms, with the quality and timeliness of advice and support and the achievement of key tasks.	The 2005 senators’ survey revealed high levels of overall satisfaction with the group’s outputs. Advice was evaluated as ‘excellent’ and ‘the quality of the work has always been good’. In the absence of a survey this year, comments received in response to individual tasks were monitored; these reflected a continuation of those levels of satisfaction.
	Amendments and bills are accurate and legally sound.	A high level of accuracy was maintained within the tight timeframes set by clients.
	Public information and parliamentary research are accurate, comprehensive and targeted for particular needs.	A comprehensive continuing survey program revealed consistently high levels of satisfaction with this output.
	Curriculum materials and Education Centre programs are consistent with national and state curriculum frameworks and standards.	Programs and materials retained their focus on teaching teachers and students about the work and operation of the Parliament. All Parliamentary Education Office work continued to receive satisfactory comments from senators and members.
Timeliness	Meetings held, documentation provided and reports produced within timeframes set by the Senate or the committee, as relevant.	All meetings of scrutiny committees were held as scheduled, with all documents provided within agreed timeframes set by the committees.
	During sitting periods, amendments drafted as soon as possible after receipt of instructions.	Amendments were drafted as soon as possible after receipt of instructions; all amendments were delivered in time for use in the Senate.
	Information available on the internet and in publications is up to date and available as soon as practicable.	Internal timetables for the provision of information were met.

Analysis

To assist the efficient management of the services which the Procedure Office provides to senators, the office is divided into six functional areas, as shown in Figure 10. The office is headed by the Clerk Assistant (Procedure), who manages the office, provides procedural, advisory and drafting services (including a large number of presentations and seminars on Senate procedure), and performs duties as a clerk at the table in the Senate chamber.

The average staffing level for the Procedure Office for the year increased marginally—from 30.9 to 31.6—and the cost of the office was $5.5 million, an increase of $0.4 million on 2004–05.

Figure 10 Elements and responsibilities of the Procedure Office

Executive and Legislative Drafting
Cleaver Elliott, Clerk Assistant Procedural advice and training Legislative drafting of amendments and private senators’ bills
Biographical Dictionary Unit	Parliamentary Education Office	Regulations and Ordinances Committee	Research Section	Scrutiny of Bills Committee
Ann Millar, Director	Chris Reid, Director	James Warmenhoven, Secretary	Anthony Marinac, Director	Jeanette Radcliffe, Secretary
Production, editing and publication of The Biographical Dictionary of the Australian Senate	Provision of parliamentary education services to schools, teachers and students	Secretariat, advisory and administrative support to the committee	Provision of seminars, exhibitions, and research on matters of parliamentary significance	Secretariat, advisory and administrative support to the committee

Legislative drafting and procedural advice

In providing procedural advice and legislative drafting services to non‑government senators, we met senators’ requirements by:

• providing procedural advice to non‑government senators, in response to requests and proactively
• providing procedural training and briefing to senators and senators’ staff, in response to requests and proactively
• providing accurate advice, both in the chamber and for use in the chamber
• drafting amendments to bills, primarily for non‑government senators but also for backbench government senators, as required, in response to instructions received from senators and senators’ staff
• drafting private senators’ bills for non‑government senators, in response to instructions received from senators and senators’ staff.

We also prepared an average of five procedural scripts each sitting day, two fewer than last year’s average. These scripts included notices of motion, terms of reference for committee inquiries, questions, and related documents for senators’ use in the chamber and in committees. The tendency of senators and their staff to seek this advice at very short notice continued during the year.

The Procedure Office drafted and processed all non‑government amendments and private senators’ bills required by senators for use in the Senate, to assist with Senate committee work and to facilitate discussions and negotiations with interested constituents. There was also a slight increase in drafting requests from government senators.

Requests to draft private senators’ bills also increased during the year. The Therapeutic Goods Amendment (Repeal of Ministerial responsibility for approval of RU486) Bill 2005 was notable for being introduced by four senators representing the National, Liberal, Democrat and Labor parties. The briefings on the bill during its successful passage through the Parliament involved considerable work for the office.

The numbers of amendments arising from the four most demanding bills, shown in Table 3, are indicative of the general levels of legislative drafting activity during 2005–06. Figures 11 and 12 present a comparative summary of the legislative drafting services provided by the office.

Providing procedural advice across a wide range of senators’ requirements continued to be a core function of the Procedure Office. As in previous years, senators and senators’ staff frequently sought advice about the operation of various standing orders and the practices of the Senate, as well as advice on how to satisfy their requirements through the procedures of the Senate and its committees. Senior officers across the department provided formal and informal training and support services in response to the intake of 14 new senators at the beginning of the year. The demand for training new staff of senators and providing refresher training sessions in procedural matters to existing staff remained strong. This continuing high volume of work was a major part of the Clerk Assistant’s responsibilities.

The reduced number of sitting days during 2005–06 had a significant impact on the work of the office, as senators had to concentrate their legislative work into fewer days.

Last year the office reported that, with senators and their staff continuing to require legislative drafting support at very short notice, measures would be taken to increase the responsiveness of the drafting service. During the year under review:

• drafting training for staff increased
• additional staff time was devoted to drafting during sitting weeks
• preparatory work commenced for additional staff to be trained in the use of word processing templates for legislative amendments and private senators’ bills.

Table 3 Bills generating significant workload, 2005—06

Bill	No. of circulated amendments	No. of sets of circulated amendments
Anti-Terrorism Bill (No. 2) 2005	59	4
Employment and Workplace Relations Legislation Amendment (Welfare to Work and Other Measures) Bill	100	9
Family Law Amendment (Shared Parental Responsibility) Bill 2005	60	3
Workplace Relations Amendment (Work Choices) Bill	137	9

Figure 11 Legislative drafting services provided to
non‑government senators

Figure 11 text description

Figure 12 Legislative drafting services provided to
non‑government senators—committee of the whole
amendments

Figure 12 text description

Legislative scrutiny committees

During the year, the office provided secretariat, research and administrative support to the Regulations and Ordinances Committee and the Scrutiny of Bills Committee.

The secretariats of the two scrutiny committees assisted the committees to discharge their responsibilities in accordance with their standing orders. This included:

• publication each sitting week of the required reports and digests
• publication of the Delegated Legislation Monitor (also published every sitting week) and the Disallowance Alert and Scrutiny of Disallowable Instruments Alert (updated online as required)
• preparation of disallowance notices.

It is the responsibility of the two committees to examine all bills and disallowable instruments within their jurisdiction. The secretariats, assisted by their legal advisers, completed all the necessary administrative work to assist the committees to do so. The Regulations and Ordinances Committee staff processed 2,449 instruments during 2005–06 (an increase from 2,432 in 2004–05) and 252 responses from ministers (268 in 2004–05). The Scrutiny of Bills Committee secretariat processed 185 bills during the reporting period (207 in 2004–05) and the committee commented on 91 bills (81 in 2004–05).

Interjurisdictional activities

The secretariats of both scrutiny committees briefed a delegation from the Thai Office of the Council of State.

Public information and parliamentary research

The Research Section continued to coordinate and deliver parliamentary information services for the community during the year, through lectures, exhibitions, seminars, publications, programs for visiting parliamentarians and officials, and internships and fellowships.

Biographical dictionary

During 2005–06, the staff of the Biographical Dictionary Unit made solid progress with the authorship, editing and compilation of entries for Volume 3 of The Biographical Dictionary of the Australian Senate. Volume 3, covering the period from 1962 to 1983, will contain articles on 104 senators and their four clerks. On current projections, this will be the largest volume produced. The Department of the Senate and the UNSW Press entered into a contract to publish Volume 3 and initial work on Volume 4 began during the year.

Progress during the year saw a further 19 entries written and 36 verified and edited, while 212 birth, death and marriage certificates have been acquired, with research on further certificates in progress.

The unit uses accepted standards and procedures for multi‑author reference works. Authors are drawn from among academics and other scholars throughout Australia. The entries submitted are thoroughly verified in the unit, with additional research being undertaken as required. Following verification, each entry is edited, and where necessary additional writing undertaken, subject to author approval.

Lectures

The staff of the Research Section arranged and managed eight lectures in the Senate Occasional Lecture series in 2005–06. The lectures, held in the Main Committee Room during Friday lunchtimes, feature prominently on the Canberra public lecture circuit, attracting an appreciative repeat audience.

The lectures attracted about 1,500 attendees. Topics ranged from the life of Sir Robert Garran to the role of political cartoonists. The text of each lecture and a transcript of the question and answer session that followed it were edited and published on the departmental website. A number of the transcripts were also published in the department’s Papers on Parliament series, and others will be published in a forthcoming edition. The editing and publication of this series constitute a significant output of the section.

Exhibitions

During the year, the Research Section continued to maintain the exhibitions in the public areas of Parliament House. A planned redesign of the Senate exhibition in the lobby outside the public gallery will be implemented in the first part of 2006–07. The Parliamentary Education Office and parliamentary guides contributed to the planning of this exhibition, to ensure that it addresses the needs of the various groups visiting the Senate.

To keep the exhibition in the forefront of exhibition techniques and to convey the meaning and effect of the Senate’s work in a simple and appealing way, the section enhanced the exhibition’s integrated video material. It also devised and finalised DVD footage relating to committees, prime ministers (from Barton to Fraser) and women in parliament.

Programs for visiting parliamentarians and officials

The Senate continues to be regarded as a role model for legislatures around Australia and the world. During the year, the Research Section continued to offer its support to overseas parliamentary visitors. Representatives from the parliaments of Afghanistan, Bahrain, China, Ghana, Indonesia, Malaysia and Pakistan visited. Each delegation or group of visitors received a program tailored to meet its particular requirements. Some programs focused on committee work and operations; others provided a detailed understanding of the Senate’s legislative work. Several visitors were keen to engage in comparative study and analysis, a most useful exercise for both parties.

In addition, the section coordinated departmental support for the Inter‑Parliamentary Study Program, which took place in late November 2005, attended by 12 officers from 11 countries as diverse as the United States, Norway and Sri Lanka. All senior officers across the department contributed their expertise by providing presentations and briefings to the program.

The Research Section shared experience and knowledge of parliamentary practices and procedures with the new Indonesian upper house, the Dewan Perwakilan Daera (DPD). In May 2005 visiting DPD members undertook a week‑long study program on the work and operations of the Senate that included observing estimates hearings. In August 2005, the director of the section went to Jakarta as an expert adviser to the DPD’s Strategic Planning Workshop, which established the DPD’s objectives through to 2009. In December, a second delegation of DPD members and staff visited Canberra for intensive briefings on the Senate committee system. At the end of their visit, the DPD members conducted a full committee hearing in a Parliament House hearing room. The Indonesian members of parliament commented most favourably on the success and value of using these processes.

In March 2006, the director again visited Indonesia to provide expert support for the DPD Budget Committee’s first ever public hearings, in Cirebon, Central Java (and in nearby agricultural and fishing villages). Again, the Indonesian members of parliament expressed satisfaction with the results they achieved using practices and procedures adapted from their Senate experience to conduct public hearings.

Seminars and briefings

The Research Section continued to manage and coordinate the department’s major program of seminars explaining the work of the Senate to Australian Government public servants, with 1,188 people attending 40 seminars during the year.

The section manages advertising and bookings for all participants in the seminar program, coordinates the various presenters, prepares all the issued materials, books and prepares the venues and catering, and receives and processes the attendance fees. The seminars bring in the department’s largest financial return, of about $265,000 a year.

The seminars continue to be an integral part of the graduate induction programs of government departments and agencies. While most seminars attracted participants from a range of departments and took place at Parliament House, others were tailored to meet the needs of particular institutions and delivered at their premises. Members’ and senators’ staff and departmental staff frequently attend these seminars free of charge, along with staff from other parliamentary departments.

The curriculum for the seminars covers the work of the Senate and how public servants may best interact with the Senate. The legislative process and the Senate’s committee work are the areas about which most seminar participants seek advice.

In addition to formal seminars, the section arranged briefings ranging from one hour to half a day for a variety of individuals and groups. It also provided parliamentary training for regional journalists who visited Canberra under the Regional Journalists Fellowship, a combined project of the Minerals Council of Australia, the Department of Industry, Tourism and Resources, and the Department of the Senate.

Publications

Two editions of the department’s journal Papers on Parliament were issued during 2005–06. The first, titled ‘Reference of Bills to Australian Senate Committees’ and written by the Clerk Assistant (Committees), examines historical and political trends in the Senate’s referral of legislation to committees for further examination. The second, ‘Democratic Experiments’, collates the transcripts of Senate Occasional Lectures during 2004 and 2005. The section edited these papers and published them in print form (700 copies of each) and on the departmental website.

The Senate Daily Summary, a summary of each day’s Senate chamber and estimates hearings proceedings, continued to be produced by the Research Section to the end of the year. This summary, commenced in the section in 2000, has become indispensable for many parliamentary observers. From 1 July 2006 its production will move to the Table Office.

The section issues a range of free publications publicising the Senate and the parliamentary process. One is the Senate Briefs series, which is nearing the end of a complete revision. The new Briefs will have printed and web versions. In addition, a new brochure to be released soon will explain the Senate’s role and operations in simple terms for the general public and tourists visiting Parliament House.

Information inquiries

During the year, the Research Section responded to information requests from varied sources. For example, it continued to provide daily information and research support to the Clerk. In addition, it responded to specific requests from senators for information support in their Senate and committee work.

The section also responded to information requests from the academic community both in Australia and overseas. Finally, the section responded to many community requests for general information about the role of the Senate and specific information about business currently before the Senate.

Richard Baker Senate Prize

The Research Section continues to administer the Richard Baker Senate Prize. The prize, valued at $3,000, was initiated by the President of the Senate, Senator the Honourable Paul Calvert, in 2003. It is awarded annually for the best essay, article, thesis, dissertation, book or journalism (in any medium) on the work of the Australian Senate. The 2005 prize was awarded jointly to Kate Burton for her publication Scrutiny or Secrecy? Committee Oversight of Foreign Policy and to Ian Holland for his essay ‘Reforming the conventions regarding parliamentary scrutiny of ministerial actions’.

Australian National Internships Program

Since 1993 the Parliament has cooperated with the Australian National Internships Program at the Australian National University to place interns with parliamentarians and parliamentary committees and departments. More than 960 students have participated in the program since it commenced. In 2005–06 more than 70 students were placed in Parliament House. The Research Section coordinated an induction seminar for each group of interns as well as some formal functions.

Senate Fellowship

The Research Section manages the Senate Fellowship program, a program which enables selected scholars to access the department and Parliament House to conduct their research. The program is free of cost to the department as it provides no fees or allowances.

In 2005–06, Professor John Halligan of the University of Canberra continued his statistical analysis of the work of parliamentary committees.

Parliamentary education services

During 2005–06 the Parliamentary Education Office (PEO) continued to deliver a high level of educational services to schools, teachers and students. The PEO has two main functions. First, through the Education Centre in Parliament House (a modified committee room representing a parliamentary chamber), the PEO delivers an hour‑long role‑play for visiting students. The activity involves simulations of chamber and committee proceedings of the House of Representatives and the Senate. This approach provides a popular and successful educational tool that has been replicated by state and overseas parliaments.

Second, over many years the PEO has developed a sophisticated outreach strategy designed to benefit students and teachers who might not visit Parliament House. To support this strategy, we produce educational materials and resources both in print and on the internet. Harnessing the skills and knowledge of staff to redevelop the PEO website during the year avoided expensive consultancies and produced materials with a clear understanding of the needs of the Parliament and students. In 2005–06 the PEO maintained its close working relationship with senators and members and their offices.

While student attendance at Parliament House remains at record levels, the limitations imposed by the finite resources available in a working Parliament House caused the PEO to consider other means to reach the estimated target audience of three million Australian school‑age children. In doing so, it focused on two new strategies: maximising the use of the internet and teaching teachers.

Programs

The PEO Education Centre delivered its standard one‑hour pre‑booked program to more than 81,000 students in about 2,400 groups during the year. As foreshadowed in last year’s report, the program was extended to 6 pm during term 3 to meet the increased demand from school groups visiting Canberra during winter. As a result, more than 2,000 additional students went through the program. This successful arrangement will be repeated in 2006–07. The office also utilised the presence of classroom teachers in the Education Centre to undertake market research and various evaluation exercises. Upgrades of theatrical props and other equipment to suit the evolving program were also completed.

The PEO again delivered programs to teachers in TAFE colleges and universities in most states, and developed and delivered a national ‘teaching teachers’ program to schools in Western Australia, Victoria and New South Wales. It also delivered programs to the annual conference of the Adult Migrant English Program and to 15 English as a second language groups from North Sydney.

The PEO initiated a university program about parliament for pre‑service teachers in Tasmania to deliver in their host school classroom during their final teaching practicum. The Fellowships program, which brings Edith Cowan University education students into the parliamentary environment, was well received by the university and students. Their placement under the program formed part of their course assessment.

The PEO also presents education programs in schools and technical and further education institutions outside Canberra. In these programs, PEO staff show students and teachers how to study, learn and teach about the Parliament and its committees. In 2005–06 it completed programs in:

• New South Wales—Newcastle, Sydney’s northern beaches, Shellharbour, Wagga Wagga and Wollongong
• Victoria—Dandenong, Geelong, Melbourne, Rutherglen, Warrnambool and Wodonga
• South Australia—Adelaide
• Western Australia—Bunbury, Fremantle, Mandurah, Mindarie, Narrogin, Perth and Rockingham
• Tasmania—Launceston and Penguin.

An important feature of these outreach activities is the involvement and assistance of senators and members from the relevant state or electorate.

Website and resources

The PEO website presented two new resources during 2005–06: a collection of more than 50 fact sheets about Parliament (which generated more traffic than any other single PEO resource) and Kidsview (Phase 2), a computer-based games and interactive information and teaching resource on the Parliament.

The website attracted an average of 23,000 visits each month, a 32 per cent increase over 2004–05.

The PEO also produced a new teacher CD resource, Parliament of Wizards, which introduces primary school students to the work of Parliament through the world of magic.

Joint ventures

The PEO continued to work with the National Museum of Australia to produce Talk Back Classroom, a program in which senior secondary school students interview distinguished guests in front of a live audience in a recording studio. In 2005–06 interviewees included the Honourable Tony Abbott MP, Peter Garrett MP, Senator Natasha Stott Despoja, Senator the Honourable Ian Campbell and Senator Barnaby Joyce.

The Rotary-sponsored Adventure in Citizenship program brought 50 Year 11 students from across Australia to Canberra to take part in a week‑long program run by the PEO. The program concentrated on experiencing the Parliament through role‑play and debating current issues within the structured format of parliamentary and committee processes.

Two other programs—Heywire (a program for rural youth run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation) and Little Lunch Sittings for Senior Citizens—were again delivered during available periods in the Education Centre.

Professional networks

During 2005–06, the PEO continued to forge strong and useful networks within the Parliament and the wider Australian community by:

• working closely with senators and members, devising resources for their use, and offering detailed information about the work and services offered by the office
• hosting the 2005 Australasian Parliamentary Educators Conference in October 2005
• attending the Australian Primary Principals Association Conference, where the national program to teach teachers, Pathways to Parliament, was conceived
• continuing to monitor state and territory curriculum developments
• forging greater links with interstate parliaments
• keeping abreast of parliamentary education developments internationally.

The Director of the PEO was the secretary to an official Australian parliamentary delegation to the European Institutions and a bilateral visit to Norway from 22 April to 6 May 2006.

Administered item

The Citizenship Visits Program (CVP) provided subsidies for school groups travelling more than 1,000 kilometres to Canberra to visit the PEO Education Centre. The program is administered by the Department of the House of Representatives and jointly funded by that department and the Department of the Senate.

Figure 13 shows the numbers of students who visited the PEO Education Centre and the numbers of students who received the CVP subsidy in the years 2000 to 2006. Figure 14 gives the same information for school groups.

Figure 13 Students who visited the PEO Education Centre, 2000 to 2006

Figure 13 text description

Figure 14 Groups that visited the PEO Education Centre, 2000 to 2006

Figure 14 text description

Inter‑Parliamentary Union

The Inter‑Parliamentary Union (IPU) brings together representatives of the parliaments of sovereign states.

The department funded the attendances of senators and members from the Australian Group of the IPU at the 113th IPU Assembly, held in Geneva, Switzerland, in October 2005 and the 114th Assembly in Nairobi, Kenya, in May 2006. The Australian delegation contributed fully to all debates, including those of the three standing committees, and attended several other meetings. In Nairobi, Mrs Kay Hull MP was elected to the Co‑ordinating Committee of Women Parliamentarians. The Director, Journals and Notice Paper, Table Office, continued to serve as secretary to the Australian IPU delegation.

In addition to its support of IPU activities, the department provided secretaries to five parliamentary delegations conducting bilateral visits to Singapore; South Africa; Turkey and Ireland; the European Institutions and Norway; and the United Kingdom and Poland. The secretaries to these delegations were experienced officers who provided administrative and research support throughout the visits and during the preparation of reports for tabling in the Parliament.

Significant changes in functions and services

There was one change in the functions of the Procedure Office during 2005–06. On 24 February and 17 March 2006, the Prime Minister wrote to the Presiding Officers stating that the Citizenship Visits Program would be transferred from the Australian Parliament and amalgamated into an existing government rebate initiative to be administered by the Department of Education, Science and Training. The new program, to be known as the Parliament and Civics Education Rebate, takes effect from 1 July 2006.

Factors, events and trends influencing performance

The core business of the Procedure Office, its legislative drafting and procedural advice services, continued to be used extensively by senators and their staff. As is evident from figures 11 and 12, drafting workload demands remained high, increasing slightly over the previous year. The office maintained working relationships and close coordination with other areas of the department to maximise the efficiency of its drafting services.

The efficient provision of legislative drafting services to senators was assisted in two ways. The first was the high‑speed and short‑notice printing of materials by the Printing and Desktop Publishing Subsection. The second was the ability of the Legislation and Documents Section of the Table Office, at short notice, to provide high‑speed technical and proofreading services relating to the drafting of amendments and bills.

Factors affecting the legislative drafting workload of the office during 2005–06 were:

• the number of bills introduced in the Senate
• whether the bills caused senators to have amendments drafted
• the number of public policy issues emerging in Australian society that senators sought to address by private senators’ bills
• the extent of negotiation between senators and others on the wording of amendments
• the number of sitting days and the concentration of legislative activity on particular sitting days.

As in 2004–05, the Procedure Office continued to receive valuable support from participants in the Working in the Senate (WISE) program, who assisted with legislative drafting and related research work during their placements with the office.

The reputation of, and demand for, the department’s seminars for public servants and other groups remains high, with many departments and agencies being repeat customers. The number of seminars we are able to conduct is close to capacity, as those who conduct the seminars must maintain their primary focus on serving the needs of the Senate and senators. It is this direct experience which makes their presentations sought after.

As the PEO has reached its capacity to present programs to schoolchildren visiting Parliament House, it is devoting increased resources to its ‘teaching teachers’ program and to reaching an Australia‑wide audience through the internet. It is hoped that these two strategies will increase the performance of the PEO.

Evaluation

The Procedure Office provides services directly to senators and their staff, with interaction occurring many times in one day. The office continually reorders its priorities to meet requirements. The office also deals directly with the public every day. Such frequent contact allows the office to appraise its work and to respond to changing requirements.

Formal and informal appraisal—through letters, emails, phone calls, seminar evaluation forms and direct advice from senators, their staff and members of the public—indicated high levels of satisfaction with the services provided by the office. Figure 15 gives examples of favourable comments.

Figure 15 Typical feedback on Output Group 3 programs

Performance outlook

In 2006–07, the Procedure Office will implement additional strategies to enhance the drafting support the office provides to senators, including further training, application of improved word processing technology and increased staff time.

The scrutiny secretariats will continue to provide full and effective support to their committees.

The Biographical Dictionary Unit will continue work on volumes 3 and 4 of the dictionary and commence full liaison with the new publisher.

The PEO will consolidate its focus on ‘teaching and reaching’. We will continue to test and refine the programs developed in 2005–06, with a view to establishing them in schools. We will continue to use the internet to reach Australians who cannot participate in PEO activities at Parliament House, and the development of teacher training initiatives will remain a priority. A newly developed PEO website is planned for release by October 2006. The PEO expects to educate a similar, near capacity, number of students in the Education Centre in 2006–07. This strategic approach will maintain the position of the office as a leading authority on parliamentary education. Performance indicators will be updated for 2006–07 to reflect our national agenda and the strategic manner in which our responsibilities are being met.

The Research Section will continue to pursue its training relationship with the Indonesian Parliament’s upper house and other legislatures, as well as maintaining high levels of training support to the Commonwealth Public Service. The section plans a major redevelopment of the ‘For Peace, Order and Good Government’ exhibition for the coming year. The exhibition space will retain its character as a place where the story of parliament is told, and aspects of the current exhibition highlighting the history of the Commonwealth Parliament will remain. However, the space will be redesigned to provide opportunities to highlight various aspects of parliamentary business. Part of the enhancement will include installation of electronic equipment which will allow the public to play video sequences at the push of a button.

All exhibitions maintained by the Research Section will continue to reflect the view that citizens and visitors who come to Parliament House have both the desire and the right to learn about their parliament while they are here.

 

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