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House of Representatives                                Ch 14                                                 p 490

Incorporation of unread material into Hansard

In one form or another the House has always had procedures for the incorporation of unread material into Hansard but there were, until recent years, considerable variations in practice and the Chair from time to time expressed unease at the fact that the practice was allowed and in respect of some of the purposes for which it was used.

Answers to questions in writing are required to be printed in Hansard ¹ and Budget tables were in the past permitted to be included unread in Hansard. ² The terms of petitions have been incorporated since 1972, ³ and the terms of notices not given openly in the House have been included since 1978; in more recent years all notices have been included. The terms of amendments moved are also printed in Hansard, despite the common practice being for Members moving them to refer to previously circulated texts of proposed amendments rather than to read them out in full.

Underlying the attitude of the Chair and the House over the years has been the consistent aim of keeping the Hansard record as a true record of what is said in the House. Early occupants of the Chair saw the practice of including unread matter in Hansard as fraught with danger ⁴ and later Speakers have voiced more specific objections. ⁵ For example, a ‘speech’ may be lengthened beyond a Member’s entitlement under the standing orders, or the incorporated material may contain irrelevant or defamatory matter or unparliamentary language; other Members will not be aware of the contents of the material until production of the daily Hansard next morning when a speech may be discovered to have matter not answered in debate and so appear more authoritative. Similarly, a succeeding Member’s speech may appear to be less relevant and informed than it would have been if he or she had known of the unspoken material before speaking. ⁶

The modern practice of the House on the incorporation of other material, defined by Speakers Snedden and Jenkins in statements on the practice, is based on the premise that Hansard, as an accurate as possible a record of what is said in the House, should not incorporate unspoken material other than items such as tables which need to be seen in visual form for comprehension. ⁷ It is not in order for Members to hand in their speeches as is done in the Congress of the United States of America, ⁸ even when they have been prevented from speaking on a question before the House, ⁹ nor can they have the balance of an unfinished speech incorporated. ¹⁰ Ministerial statements may not be incorporated, ¹¹ nor may Ministers’ second reading speeches ¹² or explanatory memoranda to bills. ¹³ Matter irrelevant to the question before the House is not permitted to be incorporated. ¹⁴

Apart from offending against the principle that Hansard is a report of the spoken word, items may also be excluded on technical grounds. Thus, for example, photographs, drawings, tabulated material of excessive length and other documents of a nature or qua lity not acceptable for printing or which would present technical problems and unduly delay the production of the daily Hansard are not able to be incorporated. In cases where permission has been granted for such an item to be incorporated (usually with the proviso from the Chair that the incorporation would occur only if technically possible), it has been the practice for a note to appear in the Hansard text explaining that the proposed incorporation was omitted for technical reasons. However, in recent years developments in printing technology have made possible the incorporation of a wider range of material—for example, graphs, charts and maps—than was previously the case.

A Minister or Member seeking leave to incorporate material should first show the matter to the Member leading for the Opposition or to the Minister or Parliamentary Secretary at the Table, as the case may be, ¹⁵ and leave may be refused if this courtesy is not complied with. ¹⁶ Members must provide a copy of the material they propose to include at the time leave is sought, ¹⁷ and copies of non-read material intended for incorporation must be lodged with Hansard as early as possible. ¹⁸

The general rule is not interpreted inflexibly by the Chair. For example, exceptions have been made to enable schedules showing the progress on government responses to committee reports. ¹⁹ Although other exceptions may be made from time to time, this is not a frequent occurrence and it is common practice of the Chair in such circumstances to remark on, and justify, the departure from the general rule, or to stress that the action should not be regarded as a precedent. The main category of such exceptions in recent years has been in relation to documents whose incorporation has provided information from the Government to the House. ²⁰ Other exceptions have been made to facilitate business of the House, ²¹ or to allow the incorporation of material which in other circumstances could have been incorporated as a matter of routine. ²² The contents of a letter stick from Aboriginal peoples of the Northern Territory have been incorporated. ²³

The House has ordered that matter be incorporated. ²⁴ Matter has been authorised to be incorporated by a motion moved pursuant to contingent notice, after leave for incorporation had been refused. ²⁵ A motion to allow incorporation has also been moved and agreed to following suspension of standing orders. ²⁶

On two occasions in 1979 standing orders were suspended to enable certain documents to be incorporated in Hansard, after leave had been refused. ²⁷ This action was procedurally defective. The incorporation of unspoken matter in Hansard is, by practice, authorised by the House by its unanimous consent. The unanimous consent is obtained by asking for leave of the House. If leave is refused the authority of the House can only be obtained by moving a positive motion. In order to move a motion without leave it is necessary to suspend the standing orders. The suspension of standing orders opens the way to move a motion for incorporation; it does not of itself allow incorporation as there is no standing order relating to the incorporation of matter in Hansard.

The fact that the House authorises the incorporation of unread matter does not affect the rule that the final decision rests with the Speaker.

S.O. 105(a). This has been a requirement since 1931. The question must also be included with the reply, VP 1930-31/693.

H.R. Deb. (13.6.24) 1292-3. The practice was discontinued in 1987 for reasons of economy.

Also ministerial responses to petitions since 1992.

H.R. Deb. (9.8.10) 1256; H.R. Deb. (4.12.11) 3638.

H.R. Deb. (5.8.31) 4976-7; H.R. Deb. (15.9.32) 556.

H.R. Deb. (10.5.83) 341-2.

H.R. Deb. (21.10.82) 2339-40; H.R. Deb. (10.5.83) 341-2. In recent times graphs and maps have also been incorporated, 

e.g. H.R. Deb. (25.5.88) 2986; H.R. Deb. (2.3.89) 329.

H.R. Deb. (1.3.17) 10826. This practice has been advocated on at least one occasion, H.R. Deb. (9.9.09) 3263.

H.R. Deb. (8.3.29) 929. On one occasion, Hansard staff having been discharged from further attendance following a very long sitting, Members handed precis of speeches made in the House to reporters for subsequent inclusion, H.R. Deb. 

(6-8.12.33) 5898. A tribute from an absent Member was permitted to be incorporated during a condolence debate, H.R. Deb. (8.4.86) 1786.

H.R. Deb. (20.6.06) 452. Leave has been granted the Leader of the Opposition to incorporate the remainder of a statement, H.R. Deb. (19.9.79) 1294. Leave has been granted for a Minister to incorporate the balance of a lengthy answer to a question without notice, H.R. Deb. (26.8.82) 959.

On one occasion a Minister was granted leave to incorporate a statement, VP 1951-53/405; H.R. Deb. (5.9.52) 1051-2.

On one occasion leave was granted for a Minister to incorporate a series of second reading speeches, H.R. Deb. (27.8.80) 804-13. On another occasion leave was granted for a Minister to incorporate a second reading speech in circumstances when a bill had been withdrawn and presented again with a change to its long title, and substantially the same speech had been made previously. The speech was also presented. H.R. Deb. (13.3.2002) 1139-42, VP 2002-04/100.

Prior to the Standing Orders Committee opposing such action, PP 114 (1970) 9, leave was occasionally granted for the incorporation of explanatory memorandums, VP 1967-68/199.

H.R. Deb. (3.5.38) 725.

PP 129 (1964-66) 3.

H.R. Deb. (24.8.84) 368.

H.R. Deb. (9.5.73) 1860-1.

VP 1974-75/157.

H.R. Deb. (9.5.96) 763-7.

E.g. government guidelines for official witnesses before parliamentary committees, H.R. Deb. (23.8.84) 290-6; Prime Minister’s comments in response to a royal commission report, H.R. Deb. (6.12.83) 3251-70; the terms of reference of a royal commission, H.R. Deb. (17.5.83) 598.

E.g. lists of names of members of parliamentary committees, H.R. Deb. (8.10.87) 995-6; H.R. Deb. (29.5.96) 1767-8.

Proposed opposition amendments to a bill which were not moved because bill was under guillotine which had expired, e.g. H.R. Deb. (11.4.86) 2129; H.R. Deb. (15.5.97) 3737-42; H.R. Deb. (5.6.97) 5123; answers to questions in writing which had been withdrawn from the Notice Paper, H.R. Deb. (15.4.86) 2319-20. Proposed amendment to motion (amendment could not be moved because another had been moved and the question stated in the form ‘That the words stand’), H.R. Deb. (8.10.03) 20792.

H.R. Deb. (28.10.96) 5908.

Record of proceedings of the presentation of a resolution of thanks of the House to representatives of the Armed Forces, VP 1920-21/184. Report of the proceedings on the occasion of the presentation of the Speaker’s Chair, VP 1926-28/343.

H.R. Deb. (28.9.88) 1011.

H.R. Deb. (21.9.77) 1418-19. However, because of technical difficulties the matter was not in fact incorporated.

VP 1978-80/875-6; H.R. Deb. (6.6.79) 2972-7; VP 1978-80/986-7; H.R. Deb. (13.9.79) 1080-4.