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Title

Ch4 Parliament House and access to proceedings / PARLIAMENTARY PRECINCTS AND THE EXERCISE OF AUTHORITY / Application of the law in Parliament House

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

128

Section No.

 

System Id

procedural/practcer/chapter04.32.doc


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Ch4 Parliament House and access to proceedings / PARLIAMENTARY PRECINCTS AND THE EXERCISE OF AUTHORITY / Application of the law in Parliament House



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House of Representatives                                Ch 4                                                 p 128

 

Parliament House and access to proceedings / PARLIAMENTARY PRECINCTS AND THE EXERCISE OF AUTHORITY

 

Application of the law in Parliament House

Although the ordinary criminal law applies within Parliament House, the actual charging of people creating a disturbance inside the building has in the past been difficult. For example, doubt had existed as to whether the Chambers were Commonwealth premises for the purposes of the Public Order (Protection of Persons and Property) Act 1971 and therefore protected against disturbances that caused no damage or injury. In 1965 a police constable arrested a person in King’s Hall (of the provisional Parliament House) and a conviction was recorded against the person for using insulting words in a public place. Although it seemed doubtful that King’s Hall was in fact a public place for the purposes of the Police Offences Ordinance, the Speaker stated that ‘the constable acted properly, and with authority, in protection of the Parliament and its members’. 1 A person who jumped from the main public gallery onto the floor of the Chamber in September 1987 was not charged. In 2004 a person who jumped from the first floor northern gallery onto the floor of the Chamber was subsequently charged and convicted of related offences.

The Parliamentary Privileges Act 1987 made the legal position clearer by declaring ‘for the avoidance of doubt’ that a law in force in the Australian Capital Territory applies, subject to section 49 of the Constitution, ‘according to its tenor in and in relation to any building in the Territory in which a House meets, except as otherwise provided by that law or by any other law’.

The Parliamentary Precincts Act 1988 further clarified the situation by providing that the Public Order (Protection of Persons and Property) Act applies to the precincts as if they were Commonwealth premises within the meaning of that Act. The Parliamentary Precincts Act also provides that the functions of the Director of Public Prosecutions in respect of offences committed in the precincts shall be performed in accordance with general arrangements agreed between the Presiding Officers and the Director of Public Prosecutions.

The Australian Capital Territory (Self Government) Act 1988 provides that either House may declare by resolution that an A.C.T. law enacted following self government does not apply to that House or its members, or in the parliamentary precincts.



H.R. Deb. (19.11.65) 2989.