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Annual Report 2002–03 You are currently viewing: Annual
report > Performance Review > Output Group 1
> Output 1.1 Output Group 1: Chamber, Main Committee and Community Awareness1.1 Procedural advice and support services
AdviceThe Clerk, Deputy Clerk and other staff members provided advice on the procedures and practices of the House, helping to ensure the proper functioning of the Chamber and Main Committee. As in previous years, the clerks were called on during the year to provide the Speaker and members with advice on the application of the law and rules under which the House operates. For example, they provided advice on issues ranging from the constitutional powers of the House in respect of legislation, through issues of members' interests, to the law and practice surrounding parliamentary privilege. The clerks on duty at the table during proceedings of the Chamber and Main Committee provided immediate advice on the procedures and practices of the House. Written and oral advice was also provided by the Clerk, Deputy Clerk, Clerks Assistant, staff of the Table Office and the Chamber Research Office at other times. The department also provided assistance in the preparation of legislation and legislative amendments, in particular to members of the shadow ministry (the Office of Parliamentary Counsel provides drafting assistance for the Executive). In addition, the department gave ongoing procedural advice and assistance to all those involved in supporting the operation of the House of Representatives, including staff in the offices of ministers, shadow ministers and whips, and public service and parliamentary staff. The following sample illustrates the range of subjects dealt with by the Chamber Research Office in providing advice:
Feedback from the Speaker, members and others indicated their high level of satisfaction with the quality and timeliness of advice – 95 per cent of members surveyed reported high or extreme satisfaction. In relation to applications of technology in this area, there were two major developments during the year. Firstly, the Votes Officer's Minutes – the electronic record of the proceedings of the House compiled progressively throughout the sitting day – were made available through the parliamentary computing network to all occupants of the building. This provided members and others with an online record of the progress of business in the House and the Main Committee, updated at least every minute throughout each sitting day. Secondly, following the report by the internal working group referred to in last year's report, the department decided to enhance the quality of captioning provided via the internal broadcasting system and the internet webcast of proceedings. The Department of the Parliamentary Reporting Staff agreed to our request for enhancements to the Events in Progress software used for captioning. The project had commenced by the end of the year. Document provisionIn accordance with departmental service standards, House documents such as the Notice Paper, the Daily Program, the Votes and Proceedings, the Daily Bills List and the Disallowable Instruments List continued to be available in a timely fashion both in hard copy and electronically via the web. Other documents for the use of ministers and members during proceedings – including bills, explanatory memoranda and amendments, papers and Chamber procedures prepared by the department – were also provided in accordance with service standards and in a timely fashion. The survey of members indicated a high level of satisfaction with the timeliness of such documents, and with their accessibility. Members and staff were again encouraged to access the documents in electronic form. Changes to the delivery of documents such as the Notice Paper, identified in last year's report, are now well established. The department continued to monitor stock requirements for the tabling of government documents and committee reports, and made reductions where possible. For example, the hard copy stock of the 2003–04 Budget documents and related papers was reduced, and members were encouraged to access documents electronically. In addition, from 2003–04, the department will reduce its stock requirements for the tabling of government documents by 25 per cent (stock requirements were previously reduced by 38 per cent in 2000–01). All member requests for hard copy were met during the year, and there was a reduction in the department's stock requirements, leading to significant savings in printing for other departments and agencies. The Chamber Research Office continued to provide updated versions of the standing orders. The current hard copy version is dated 16 September 2002. Inserts are circulated on the same day as changes to the standing and sessional orders are made by the House.
Chamber practiceDuring 2002–03 work commenced on producing an update supplement to the House's authoritative document on practice and procedure, House of Representatives Practice (fourth edition). The supplement is to be a published document and will also be available online. The printed version remains the authoritative version for use in the Chamber. The Chamber Research Office continued to maintain a parliamentary procedural database, the Procedural Records System, and regularly distribute to the Speaker, Deputy Speaker, members of the Speaker's Panel and others a chronological list of matters of procedural significance, Procedural Extracts. During the year, the format and content of the extracts were reviewed to enhance their readability, and a new document, the Procedural Digest, was launched. The new digest entries are grouped by subject matter and written in narrative style with improved layout and presentation, increasing the value of the document as an educational resource. All members surveyed were satisfied with the quality and availability of procedural and statistical publications and 90 per cent reported extreme or high satisfaction. The Chamber Research Office also continued to maintain a procedural research library containing, among other things, copies of historical documents and parliamentary records dating back as far as 1901. Parliamentary committeesStaff supporting the output group provided secretariat support to five House of Representatives committees and a joint committee whose functions are concerned with the powers and structures of the House, namely: the Selection Committee, the Standing Committee on Publications, the Standing Committee on Procedure, the Committee of Privileges, the Committee of Members' Interests, and the Joint Committee on the Broadcasting of Parliamentary Proceedings. The Committee of Privileges is appointed at the commencement of each Parliament to inquire into, and report on, complaints of breach of privilege referred to it by the House. It also makes recommendations concerning applications for a right of reply requested by aggrieved citizens mentioned in proceedings. The committee presented three reports during the year, including one on general issues relating to parliamentary privilege. The Standing Committee on Procedure inquired into several issues during the year, including the effectiveness of the House's scrutiny of the Budget estimates, the conduct of divisions, and the operation of standing order 344 (relating to visitors at public hearings of committees). The committee's major task in 2002–03 was a comprehensive review of the standing orders. As part of the review, the committee issued a discussion paper in September 2002 – reviewing the Clerk's suggestions for revising the standing orders, referred to in last year's annual report – and held a number of meetings to consider possible revisions to the standing orders. Details of other committee activity are provided in Appendices 3 and 4. The department received positive feedback on the output's secretariat services – particularly on the timeliness and quality of briefing papers and technical advice provided by staff. Procedural trainingStaff whose main duties were not in the procedural support area continued to take advantage of opportunities to serve as Clerks-at-the-Table in both the Chamber and the Main Committee. Appropriate training, development and experience are required to perform these roles. The Table Office 'shadowing' program continued, with staff from outside the output group working on sitting nights to assist the staff performing Table Office duties. During the year, the benefits of the shadowing program were demonstrated on several occasions, when the 'shadow' undertook the duties of a particular position because the occupant was unable to work on a sitting day. Building the procedural competence of staff also continued following sitting periods, with targeted briefings and weekly or fortnightly debriefing meetings to discuss procedural issues that arose during each period. To facilitate learning by staff, records of the debriefings were made available through the departmental intranet. Staff were also involved in discussions with visiting parliamentary officials from Australian and overseas parliaments and benefited from the exchange of views and information on practices. This year, the department continued its program of recruiting university students to work as parliamentary assistants for an average of 12 hours per week. As in previous years, the parliamentary assistants spent most of their time performing the duties of messengerial attendants, particularly in the Chamber. At the end of 2002 all parliamentary assistants appointed in 2002 were invited to reapply, to become 'senior' parliamentary assistants to assist with the incoming team for 2003; one from 2002 became a 'senior' assistant. From January 2003 six new parliamentary assistants were appointed. The students are from the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, South Australia and Queensland. One of the parliamentary assistants appointed in 2001 became a full-time member of the department's staff in 2002–03, while two from the 2002 intake also continued with the department, one on a sessional basis in sitting weeks and one on a part-time contract to the Committee Office while completing his studies at the Australian National University. At the national level, the development of specialist training for parliamentary staff continued to be examined by the Education Sub-Committee of the Australian and New Zealand Association of Clerks-at-the-Table. In February 2003, a proposal was submitted to Australian and New Zealand clerks outlining an accredited tertiary level program of study into the law and practice of parliamentary procedure, involving a residential component. (This followed an earlier proposal for competency based training, which had been supported by many but not all the clerks.) At the end of the reporting period, many clerks had responded supporting the proposal, and outstanding responses were being followed up. The Clerk Assistant (Table) is a member of the Education Sub-Committee. Information technologyThe department's adoption of a new software platform, OneOffice, was a significant issue for the output group, given the House's high reliance on information technology. An important aspect was the need to coordinate with timetables in certain other parliamentary departments and external agencies, because of the degree of interdependence of Chamber and legislative information technology systems. The changeover for the Table Office took place in January 2003 and was managed successfully, as confirmed by internal audit, ensuring the essentially seamless transition of the specialised databases and Chamber based applications that support the House's operation. The migration of the bills systems was coordinated with the Attorney-General's Department, the Office of Parliamentary Counsel and the Department of the Senate. The migration of the Document Production System (DPS) software was coordinated with the departments of the Senate and the Parliamentary Reporting Staff, and all three departments now use a single, more robust baseline version of the DPS product. Change management procedures, to be agreed to by the same three departments, were in draft form at the end of the reporting period. A future maintenance contract for the DPS, to be shared by the three departments, is planned for the coming year, and should achieve some economies of scale. You are currently viewing: Annual
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