| Committees
Parliamentary Committees are established for different purposes
and by different methods. Three are established by statute
and are made up of Members of both Houses. They are the Public
Works, Public Accounts and Subordinate Legislation Committees.
Other Standing Committees are appointed to regulate some of
the functions of the Parliament, Joint Committees, e.g. House
and Library Committees, and Select Committees of the House
of Assembly, e.g. Standing Orders, Privileges and Printing
Committees.
From
time to time the House sees the need to appoint a select
committee to inquire into a specific matter and report back
to it. Generally such a report would be the basis for future
legislation in the area investigated by the committee. These
committees can be select committees of the House only or
joint select committees made up of Members of both Houses.
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- Parliamentary
Privilege
Parliamentary Privilege is defined by the practice of the House
of Commons and the Parliamentary Privilege Act and amendments.
It relates to the rights and immunities which are necessary
to allow Parliament to meet and carry out its proper constitutional
role.
The principal powers relating to the application of privilege
are:
- The right of free speech in Parliament.
- Immunity of Members from legal proceedings for anything
said by them in a speech in the course of debate in the
House.
- Immunity from arrest and imprisonment for civil causes
whilst attending Parliament.
- Exemption of Members from jury service.
- Immunity of Parliamentary witnesses from being questioned
or impeached for evidence given before the House or its
committees.
- The power to order the arrest and imprisonment of persons
guilty of contempt of Parliament or breach of privilege.
The purpose of Parliamentary Privilege is to enable Members
to carry out their duties in the knowledge that certain protections
exist so they may not be unduly constrained in their role as
representatives of the people.
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- Speaker
The principal
officer of the House is the Speaker. A Member is elected
to that position by the House and it
is his or her responsibility to preside over the proceedings
and enforce the Standing Orders and Rules. The Speaker
is also
the representative
of the House to the Governor
and to the Legislative Council.
The Speaker must carry out his duties with strict impartiality.
All Members look to him for guidance in matters of procedure
and he rules on points of order from the Chair.
The
Speaker & his procession make their way to
the Chamber at the start of each sitting day. |
The office
of Speaker dates back to 1377 in the House of Commons.
At that time the role of Speaker was to convey the
resolutions of the House to the King. The position has been
a precarious one at times with several Speakers having lost
their lives in carrying out their duties. During the 15th
and 16th centuries several were beheaded by the King. The
modern role of Speaker was developed in the 18th century.
Established during that period were the high standards of
political independence, non-partisanship and concern for
the individual Member and minority groups which today are
taken for granted as essential prerequisites for the office
of Speaker.
The Speaker is assisted in his duties by the Chairman of
Committees, who takes the Chair as Deputy Speaker when required
to do so by the Speaker. Back
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- Clerk of
the House
The Clerk of the House is the principal permanent officer of
the House of Assembly. It is his responsibility to advise the
Speaker and other Members on procedural matters, as well as
to keep the journals of the House, i.e. the Votes and Proceedings,
and the Notices of Motion and Orders of the Day.
The Clerk acts as Chairman of a meeting prior to the election
of a Speaker. He is required to certify the passing of Bills
and ensure they are correct when delivering them to the Legislative
Council. The Clerk also has custody of all papers and accounts
presented to the House.
The other principal permanent officers are the Deputy Clerk,
the Clerk-Assistant, Second Clerk-Assistant and Clerk of
Papers.
Clerk
reads petition in House. |
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- Hansard
The Parliamentary
Reporting Service, more commonly known as Hansard, was
set up in Tasmania in 1979. The role of Hansard is to record
and publish the debates of both the House of Assembly and
Legislative Council. The Tasmanian system is a 'mechanical'
one, that is,
debates are recorded on tape, are then typed, edited
and given to the Members for their perusal, and then published
via
the Parliament's Internet page [http://www.parliament.tas.gov.au].
Hansard is a valuable service for the public as it enables
them to assess the performance of their representatives in
Parliament.
The
Parliamentary Library |
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Library
The Parliamentary Library has been in existence since 1852.
Its principal function is to provide Members and Officers
of Parliament with information they need in connection with
their Parliamentary duties. The Library also has a section
for recreational reading. The Clerk of the House of Assembly
was Librarian until more recently when the State Library
provided the services of full-time staff.
The information gathered for Members of Parliament is obtained
from the Library's own collection, other Parliamentary Libraries
and the State Library. A significant part of the Library's
work is media monitoring. There is an extensive newspaper
clippings file dating from the early 1970s and more recently
monitoring of radio and television current affairs programs
has taken place.
The
present Library premises have been occupied since 1980.
Since then several in-house databases have been generated
on computer to help provide speedy access to information.
In 1990 the Parliamentary Research Service was
established to provide more in-depth research.
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- Visitors
The public are encouraged to visit Parliament House whenever
the House or the Council is sitting. There is a large public
gallery in the Assembly Chamber and there are usually vacant
seats for the public to listen to the debate.
The public are welcome to participate in guided tours of
the building which are held on non-sitting days at 10.00
am and 2.00 pm. Large groups can arrange tours at other times
by appointment with the Principal Parliamentary Attendant.
An average of 25 000 people per year visit the building either
to listen to debates or for guided tours.
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