Parliamentary Departments
2.1
The Committee took evidence from the parliamentary departments on Monday, 12 February 2007.
Department of the Senate
2.2
During a relatively brief examination of the department, members of the
Committee and other senators in attendance raised the following issues:
- Citizenship Visits Program;
- Decision to pay deputy chairs of parliamentary committees;
- Workload of Senate committee;
- Advertising for Senate committees; and
- International delegations and senators and members attendance at the
UN.
2.3
An item of possible interest to all senators was the Committee's discussion
of trends in the referral of bills for inquiry and reporting times for them.
The Committee was concerned that recent tight reporting deadlines may have an
adverse effect on the health of committee office staff. The Clerk responded:
The problem lies with the very tight turnaround time on bills.
Everybody accepts that if legislation is urgent then there has to be an urgent
committee inquiry, and people will work on that accordingly. But it is
noticeable that very tight turnaround times on quite a number of bills are
followed by a lengthy period before they go through the chamber – and there
could have been more time spent on the committee inquiry and staff would have
been under less strain to meet the deadlines.[1]
2.4
The Committee placed a number of questions on notice relating to these
issues. The department's response is included in Appendix 3 for the benefit of
senators interested in this matter.
Department of Parliamentary Services
2.5
During the examination of the department, members of the Committee and
other senators in attendance raised the following issues:
- Water usage in Parliament House;
- Bollards at Parliament House entrances;
- Bound volumes of Hansards;
- Baby centre;
- Continuous Improvement reviews;
- IT equipment and phones in Parliament House; and
- Current contracts and tender processes in Parliament House.
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