House of Representatives Annual Report 2002-03

Annual Report 2002–03

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Output Group 1: Chamber, Main Committee and Community Awareness

1.3 Community awareness

Provision of information and education services to promote public knowledge and awareness of, and interaction with, the work of the House of Representatives and the Commonwealth Parliament

Publications for the community

The department published five issues of the magazine About the House during the year. More than 13,000 copies of each edition were distributed across Australia, with the mailing list growing weekly through direct requests from the public.

We included a survey with the November/December 2002 edition and received more than 500 responses – well over 90 per cent of which rated the magazine as 'excellent' or 'good' in its range of topics, content, readability, layout and design. Ninety-five per cent of respondents said that reading About the House had increased their knowledge about the work and procedures of the House. More than 80 per cent read most or all of the entire magazine. Some noted particularly that the magazine brought them news and information unavailable elsewhere. Others were impressed with the writing style and the length of articles.

The editorial team reviewed the responses with a view to ensuring that the magazine continued to meet the needs of its readers and included some articles taking up specific topics suggested by readers.

The departmental survey of members also indicated very high levels of satisfaction with the magazine. Ninety-four per cent of members familiar with the magazine rated it as good or excellent.

As a way of recovering some of the costs involved with the production of the magazine, limited advertising space was made available. At the end of the reporting period, one full-page advertisement had been placed.

'Infosheets' – short publications on procedure, produced primarily for members of the public – were distributed in hard copy and made available on the department's website. In order to monitor and, if necessary, better target the community's need for information on the Parliament, an evaluation form was produced and distributed with both printed and electronic versions of the Infosheets.

A small pocket booklet, House of Representatives Facts and Figures: Fortieth Parliament, was produced primarily for the use of the Parliament House visitors' guides. The booklet was well received by the guides and others and appears to be fulfilling its aim of providing accurate and relevant information for members of the public who visit the Parliament.

Seminars

The seminar program was popular again in 2002–03. There were 470 registrations – 30 more than in 2001–02 and 70 more than in 2000–01. Once again the majority of participants were public servants from Australian Government agencies.

The department conducted nine seminars in 2002–03 (the same as in 2001–02), eight in Canberra and one in Melbourne. The topics ranged from a general overview of the House to detailed explanations of the legislative, committee and budget processes of the House and the Parliament.

Of those attending, 46 per cent completed evaluations (40 per cent in 2001–02), with more than 95 per cent of evaluations expressing satisfaction with the seminar attended. The average rating of satisfaction for seminar content was 8 on a scale of 1 to 10 (with 1 being poor and 10 being excellent), the same as the rating achieved in 2001–02.

The seminar program was supplemented with a range of specialised presentations and briefings, including some for Commonwealth agencies and international visitors. In addition, a free public presentation was conducted on the Gold Coast in response to a request from the Member for McPherson.

University lecture program

In 2001–02 the department initiated the trial of a guest lecture program: members of the House and senior managers made presentations to university classes, studying politics, law and other relevant subjects, on the realities of working in today's House of Representatives. The aim of the program was to broaden links between the House and tertiary institutions. Following the success of that trial, in March 2003 universities all over Australia were invited to participate in the program. A number of universities welcomed the opportunity, and lectures were held at the Australian National University, the University of New South Wales, the University of Southern Queensland and Griffith University, with further lectures scheduled to be held at several other universities in 2003–04.

Advertising

Advertising costs per inquiry were reduced as a result of committees making greater use of combined advertising and other cost-effective avenues for publicising their inquiries. The combined advertising involved the placement of a fortnightly advertisement on the work of committees in The Australian newspaper. Committees could contribute items to each advertisement, so they no longer needed to place more expensive individual advertisements in newspapers. Committees also took advantage of alternative publicity avenues – such as the About the House magazine, the House News website, media liaison and direct mailing. This resulted in cost savings while still achieving the desired outcome of informing the public about the work of the committees.

Media and community liaison

Three initiatives were implemented during the year to improve public access to information about the work of parliamentary committees. A free email alert service, providing regular information on the work of parliamentary committees, was made available to the media and public. More than 600 organisations and individuals subscribed to the service in 2002–03, with numbers steadily increasing. A regular column on the work of the Parliament and its committees was established in the Campus Review newspaper, which reaches around 86,000 people, most of them educators and in the tertiary sector. A regular column on the work of committees was also produced for the Canberra Business Council's monthly e-newsletter, Business Link.

Effective media liaison remained a priority, with the Liaison and Projects Office continuing to provide a coordinated approach in relation to media advice and services. Feedback from members of the parliamentary press gallery and from metropolitan and regional media outlets indicated that this coordinated approach was valued by the media and gave committees the best possible opportunity to attract coverage for their work.

Projects

The CD-ROM and documentary A House for the Nation, commissioned to mark the centenary of the House of Representatives, were completed and released publicly. The products provide a comprehensive collection of facts, stories, images, sound recordings and video clips from the first century of the House, thereby giving Australians unprecedented access to historical information on the Australian Parliament. In recognition of the quality of the research undertaken for the project, the CD-ROM was selected as a finalist in the prestigious Australian Teachers of Media Awards for 2003 in the category of 'best tertiary educational resource'. A touch screen kiosk and website were also developed to allow the public free access to aspects of the historical research undertaken for the project.

School visits to Parliament House

The number of students visiting Parliament House as part of an organised school group was 106,349, similar to the 106,509 in 2001–02. An analysis of the school groups indicated that close to 70 per cent of school visitors came from New South Wales, approximately 15 per cent from Victoria and about 9 per cent from Queensland. The high cost of visiting Canberra from more distant locations resulted in less than 1.5 per cent and 0.5 per cent visiting from Western Australia and the Northern Territory respectively. The relative ratios of visitors from the various states and territories have remained fairly constant over the past three years.

The following figure clearly shows the great differences between numbers of students visiting from various locations in Australia over the past three years ('other' students are those who were not part of an organised group).

Figure 5 Numbers of school students visiting Parliament House, 2000–01 to 2002–03

Enhancements were made to the schools' booking program software during 2002–03, resulting in early advice to members about groups visiting from schools in their electorates. The Parliament House visitors' guides were given read-only access to forward bookings so that their staffing levels could be managed more efficiently by the Joint House Department.

Citizenship Visits Program

The Citizenship Visits Program (CVP) continued to provide a subsidy for school students who travelled more than 1,000 kilometres to visit and participate in the programs for students offered in Parliament House. Participation rates have increased by 17 per cent over the past four financial years, with expenditure in this financial year being $1.02 million, marginally up from $1.01 million in 2001–02. All claims for subsidy were processed within two working days of the receipt of completed documentation. During 2002–03 payments were made electronically into school bank accounts, speeding up the payment process.

The number of students participating in the program this year was 16,047 from 546 schools compared with 15,470 students from 535 schools assisted in 2001–02. This year, 79 per cent received a $40 subsidy, almost 10 per cent received a $100 subsidy and almost 11 per cent received $200 per student. Participation rates in the CVP by state or territory are shown in the following figure.

Figure 6 Numbers of school students receiving CVP subsidies, 2001–02 and 2002–03

The total number of secondary students was 5,017 and there were 11,030 primary students. The largest percentage of secondary students came from the students travelling farthest to visit Canberra, with more than 55 per cent of them travelling from South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania or the Northern Territory. The Queensland students receiving the subsidy were predominantly primary students – 7,779 (85 per cent) out of 9,133.

The CVP is jointly funded by the department and the Department of the Senate. In the 2003–04 Budget, the program was granted additional funding of $804,000, payable over four years, to be shared equally between the Department of the House of Representatives and the Department of the Senate. The additional funding will enable assistance to be available for the increasing numbers of students accessing the program and to increase the rates for students from more distant areas.

Parliamentary Education Office

The Parliamentary Education Office (PEO) provides parliamentary education services to schools, teachers and students. The Department of the House of Representatives and the Department of the Senate both fund the office, which is staffed by the Department of the Senate and reported on in that department's annual report.

As part of its role in supporting parliamentary education, the department provided advice to the PEO on the content of its educational programs. This helped to ensure that the work of the House and its committees was reflected appropriately in the programs being provided to teachers and students. The department also worked in partnership with the PEO where there were mutual benefits – for example, in the marketing of the CD-ROM, A House for the Nation, and in publicising committee activities with particular relevance to student audiences, such as the twice-yearly appearance by the Governor of the Reserve Bank before the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics, Finance and Public Administration. The Clerk Assistant (Table) attended, as an observer, meetings of the PEO Advisory Committee, which is chaired by the Deputy Speaker.

Parliamentary internship program

The parliamentary internship program which operates under an agreement between the Vice-Chancellor of the Australian National University and the Presiding Officers celebrated its tenth anniversary in 2003. Australian and foreign students enrolled under the program have an internship placement of about 10 weeks as part of their formal course of study. In 2002–03, 40 students were placed with senators, members and parliamentary committees. The department and the Department of the Senate conducted seminars on the role and functions of the Parliament for the parliamentary and other interns. The program provides students, who come from a range of academic disciplines, with an opportunity to perform applied policy work and to complement their academic studies through first-hand experience of the complexities of parliamentary government in Australia.

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