Services and advice
Chamber enhancements
In the previous reporting period, the Speaker and Deputy Speaker requested enhancements in the Chamber and the Federation Chamber, for which they are respectively responsible. The work has been coordinated by the Serjeant-at-Arms’ Office together with DPS, and includes installation of screens identifying the business before the House in the Chamber and the restructure of the Deputy Speaker and Clerk’s dais in the Federation Chamber. The majority of the work was completed during the reporting period and has been favourably received. The few remaining items in the Federation Chamber, including the addition of specific art work, will be completed by the end of 2015.
Media services
The Serjeant-at-Arms and staff continued to work with the various media bureaus and the governing committee of the Parliamentary Press Gallery to ensure compliance with the rules for media-related activity in Parliament House and its precincts. The Presiding Officers adopted the rules in 2012, and their administration has been delegated to the Serjeant-at-Arms and the Usher of the Black Rod. The rules clarify the areas in the building and precincts where media activity is permitted, permitted only after prior approval, or not permitted at all. They also set out the circumstances where still photography by accredited media personnel is permitted in the chambers, and where filming and photography are more broadly permitted throughout the parliamentary precincts. It is a condition of access to the building that occupants comply with the rules, and a graduated range of sanctions may be applied for non-compliance.
During the year, the Serjeant-at-Arms, the Usher of the Black Rod and their delegates liaised closely with the press gallery to balance media access, security and parliamentary requirements at major events, including the addresses to the House of Representatives by the Prime Minister of Japan, His Excellency Mr Shinzo Abe; the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, the Rt Hon David Cameron; the President of the People’s Republic of China, His Excellency Mr Xi Jinping; and the Prime Minister of the Republic of India, Mr Narendra Modi.
On a day-to-day level, the Serjeant-at-Arms and her delegates work with members’ and ministers’ offices, representatives of the press gallery, the AFP and the Parliamentary Security Service to ensure that media events on the precincts are conducted in compliance with the rules and with minimum inconvenience to all.
During the year, the Serjeant-at-Arms’ Office responded to around 145 requests to film or photograph in the private areas of the building.
Broadcasting of proceedings
In 2013 the House and Senate adopted updated resolutions for the broadcast of parliamentary proceedings. The resolutions recognise that television and radio are no longer the only broadcast media (social media and live streaming are others) and that previous distinctions between broadcasting and re-broadcasting are becoming less relevant with new technology. Both the House of Representatives and the Senate continue to retain control over broadcast content, which still needs to be supplied by authorised parliamentary staff in accordance with guidelines approved by the Presiding Officers.
The resolutions also include the general principles for the radio broadcast of parliamentary proceedings by the ABC. The general principles determine that the allocation of the live radio broadcast between the two chambers should be approximately equal. For question time, either the House or the Senate session is broadcast live and the other is broadcast later in the day. These general principles are complemented by standing determinations that provide more detailed advice to the ABC for the radio broadcasts.
Information services
To help keep members and their staff informed about developments in the House, three editions of the members’ bulletin, House Update, were published during the year. In addition, the annual series of briefings on procedural and other developments in the House was continued. Nine briefings were held during the year, including two briefings specifically targeted at members’ staff.
During 2014, the department continued to operate its drop-in centre every sitting Tuesday to enable members and their staff to get information or give feedback on any of the services provided by the department. Nine sessions were held yielding eight queries. As in previous years, the sessions were staffed by senior departmental staff members and a customer service officer from DPS was invited to attend to increase the value of the service to members. No sessions were held during 2015 because of the very low take-up of the opportunity by members.
Accommodation services
The Serjeant-at-Arms’ Office provides a concierge service for members and, as part of this, coordinates accommodation, capital works and routine maintenance services in the House of Representatives wing.
During the year, the office arranged six office relocations as a result of a minor ministry reshuffle and changes to office holder positions. This number was significantly less than in 2014–15, which was an election year. The office worked closely with the government whip to ensure the relocations were completed quickly. The office also coordinated 334 requests to supply and move furniture (significantly less than in the previous year), which arose from movements of members to and from the ministerial wing. All tasks were performed within agreed timeframes and to agreed standards, and to the satisfaction of the whips and individual members.
Replacement of office furniture
Work continued on the replacement of office furniture for departmental staff and the staff of certain parliamentary office holders. The furniture being replaced has been in use since 1988. Work completed to date equates to 94 per cent of the original project scope; the remainder will be completed by October 2015.
A second phase of the furniture replacement project was endorsed by the department’s Executive in June 2015. It will encompass all the suites in the House of Representatives wing that were not included in the first phase, which includes all parliamentary secretaries’ and backbenchers’ suites.
Maintenance, access and transport services
Maintenance requests for work in members’ suites are coordinated by the Serjeant-at-Arms’ Office, and include both emergency and routine work. During the year, the office coordinated 221 emergency requests, which were all attended to within five minutes of receipt. In addition, the office coordinated 129 routine maintenance requests for repairs or alterations to suites or common areas. We take a proactive approach by performing office shutdowns and inspections over the autumn and winter recesses, so that issues can be identified, reported and addressed while parliament is not sitting.
The office coordinated 281 requests for assistance with telephone faults, relocations and allocations of telephone numbers. Faults reported were referred to telephone support in DPS within five minutes of receipt, and appropriate timeframes for resolution were agreed with the affected area.
As the area responsible for access to members’ suites, the office approved 538 requests by DPS for access to suites and general circulation areas for general maintenance and services.
The Serjeant-at-Arms’ Office provides a Transport Office to coordinate transport services for members, including managing the COMCAR shuttle service during sitting weeks. The shuttle service provides a readily available, secure car-with-driver service in Canberra for members. In 2014–15, the Transport Office managed 10,335 bookings from members, compared to 8,960 bookings in 2013–14 (figures exclude unbooked walk-outs by members). This represents a 15 per cent increase in bookings on the previous year, which included an election break.
Parliament House security
The Serjeant-at-Arms represents the department on the Security Management Board. The board is established pursuant to section 65A of the Parliamentary Service Act 1999 to provide advice to the Presiding Officers on security policy and the management of security measures for Parliament House. The board met eight times during the year.
During the reporting period, the Presiding Officers reviewed the oversight and management of security arrangements at Parliament House. This resulted in representation of the AFP on the Security Management Board and the AFP taking responsibility for all security operational matters at Parliament House.
Authorised Assembly Area
The AFP is responsible for managing events on the Authorised Assembly Area at the front of Parliament House. The area is allocated variously to individuals, community groups and organisations to promote their causes and hold events. Under the authorisation signed by the Presiding Officers, the Serjeant-at-Arms and the Usher of the Black Rod are to be notified as soon as is practicable of any protests, other public assemblies, functions or events on the precincts that may disrupt the smooth running of the building or affect the security or decorum of the chambers.
During 2014–15, an extra security overlay was applied to manage protest activities arranged during visits by heads of state.
Security screening
Guests of government and parliament are automatically exempt from security screening on entry to Parliament House. Approvals for any other exemptions are jointly made by the Serjeant-at-Arms and the Usher of the Black Rod. During the year, exemptions were approved for 40 groups or individuals (compared to 16 in 2013–14).
Information and communications technology
The department continued to work within the new ICT service delivery framework, under which DPS provides most of the department’s ICT functions. The department represents its interests by participating in a range of advisory and management committees, and through the DPS customer engagement model.
The Joint Management Committee, which comprises senior parliamentary department staff, continued to oversee the service-level agreement and met four times during the reporting period. The Serjeant-at-Arms is the department’s representative on the committee.
Software and hardware services
Projects to replace many of the ICT support systems for the Chamber, committees and
members’ services continued during the year. These systems included:
Work continued on developing the Report Builder template, which will simplify the production
of committee reports. Output will be in .xml format that can be repurposed into other formats
such as PDF for printing, and HTML and eBook for electronic distribution on the website.
The department continues to use e-Trim to file and manage our records electronically, and
opportunities to upgrade and enhance the system are being investigated. During the reporting
period, 77 per cent of all files created were e-files (up from 68 per cent during 2013–14), and
the number of e-records filed increased by 25 per cent. All new staff receive e-Trim training as
part of their induction and tailored one-on-one e-Trim support is provided to existing staff.
Internet and intranet services
Projects to redevelop the departmental and members’ intranets commenced in May 2015. The redeveloped intranets are being built on the Sitecore platform and will enable the integration of content from the Shared Committee Information Database and the Parliament of Australia website. A workshop was held with departmental staff to plan the information architecture. Content migration from the previous intranet has commenced and the new intranets are scheduled for deployment in the latter part of 2015.
We continued the project to develop and distribute digital publications through RepsApp using the Adobe Digital Publishing Suite platform. The interactive seating plan continued to be popular, and digital versions of the graduate program and seminar program were released. Three digital editions of the About the House magazine were added to the library. Outgoing delegation apps were made available to senators and members via the RepsApp sign-in.
A joint project with DPS to provide outgoing delegation material on a secure web portal commenced. This product will replace the digital publication version of the material. The responsive design will ensure that it is available to travelling members of delegations via Web@Work on registered tablet or smartphone devices. It is due for release before the end of 2015.
Video content continued to be added to our committee websites and our social media channels via the Ooyala platform. The adaptive bitrate streaming technology ensures that the content can be accessed on desktop, iOS and Android devices. Closed-captioning was added for pre-recorded About the House television programs.
Printing
The department’s in-house printing service produced around 2.4 million impressions in 2014–15 (an increase from 1.3 million in 2013–14). The increase reflected the volume of committee reports printed during the year, in addition to the production of routine chamber documents.
The production of hard-copy committee reports continues to decline as stakeholders take advantage of the department’s online committee information.
Parliamentary assistants program
The parliamentary assistants program, managed by the Serjeant-at-Arms’ Office, entered its fifteenth year. Parliamentary assistants are university students who perform the duties of messengerial attendants for an average of 10 hours per week; rosters are planned around student commitments and the requirements of the House.
Six students took part in the program in 2014–15: three were existing assistants, and three were new appointments. The new assistants came from Tasmania, Canberra and Victoria, and all were studying at universities in Canberra. Former parliamentary assistants were also engaged in the Serjeant-at-Arms’ Office to work at the front counter and in other areas of members’ services.