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Title

Ch4 Parliament House and access to proceedings / ACCESS TO PROCEEDINGS

Database

House Practice

Date

01-05-2005

Source

House of Reps

Parl No.

41

Chapter

Parliament House and access to proceedings

Chapter No.

Chapter 04

Page

116

Section No.

 

System Id

procedural/practcer/chapter04.12.doc


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Ch4 Parliament House and access to proceedings / ACCESS TO PROCEEDINGS



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House of Representatives                                Ch 4                                                 p 116

 

Parliament House and access to proceedings

 

Access to proceedings

Parliament conducts its business, with the rarest exceptions, in public. This is now taken for granted but it has not always been the case over the long history of Parliament. In the 18th century the House of Commons declared the publication of any of its debates a breach of privilege and exercised its power to imprison those who committed such breaches. The House of Commons at first was seeking, among other things, to maintain its independence by keeping its debates secret from the monarch. By the 18th century its motive was possibly reluctance to be held accountable to public opinion. It also had cause for concern because of the notorious inaccuracy of reports of its debates which were based on notes taken by reporters, contrary to the orders of the House. However, reports persisted and by the end of the 18th century they were openly tolerated. 1

Visitors (until recently referred to as ‘strangers’) have been ordered to leave the House of Representatives on special occasions, the last occasion being in 1942. The use of the word ‘stranger’ to describe people within the parliamentary precincts who are not Members or staff of the Parliament is commented on by Wilding and Laundy:

The official use of the word ‘stranger’ is yet another symbol of the ancient privileges of Parliament, implying as it does the distinction between a member and a non-member and the fact that an outsider is permitted within the confines of the Palace of Westminster on tolerance only and not by right. 2

People may view the proceedings of the House from the public galleries ( see p. 112). Many thousands of people visit the House of Representatives public galleries during the sittings each year. 3

Of varying importance in informing the public of e vents in the House are:

  • radio and television coverage of parliamentary proceedings;

  • reports by the media;

  • Hansard reports, the Votes and Proceedings, the Notice Paper and other documents of the House; 4 and

  • the Internet.


    • Lord Campion, An introduction to the procedure of the House of Commons , 3rd edn, Macmillan, London, 1958, p. 96; see also A. Wright and P. Smith, Parliament past and present , Hutchinson, London, 1903, pp. 221-30.



    N. Wilding and P. Laundy, An encyclopaedia of Parliament , 4th edn, Cassell, London, 1972, p. 729.



    It is considered that a large majority of visitors would have been tourists making single visits to the galleries.



    See Ch. on ‘Documents’ for details of these documents as a source of information and their availability.