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House of Representatives                                Ch 18                                                 p 697

Seminars, informal discussions, public meetings and workshops

Sometimes committees may consider informal discussions, public meetings, seminars or workshops more appropriate for their purposes than formal hearings. Such procedures, formally provided for by standing order 235, have been used:

Committees have made use of public meetings where there is widespread community interest in an inquiry and where, because of the large number of persons involved, the formal public hearing approach may be time-consuming and repetitive, yet still exclude many from the committee’s processes. Public meetings not only enable committee members to be exposed to community attitudes but also provide an opportunity for a large number of private citizens to put views to the committee.

As an alternative to a public meeting, some committees have followed a formal public h earing with a period during which members of the public present can seek to make a short (three to five minute) statement to the committee to express their views on the matter being investigated.

‘Round table’ public hearings, while still formal hearings, have witnesses from different organisations at the table being examined simultaneously. For example, in the 40th Parliament the majority of the hearings of the Standing Committee on Economics, Finance and Public Administration inquiry into cost shifting and local government were conducted in this format.

Seminars and workshops can allow committee members to question experts and others, and such persons can also question each other directly. This process provides immediate opportunities to both clarify the issues and explain particular opinions.

The Standing Committee on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs has followed a practice of conducting informal discussions with Aboriginal communities and groups and a range of other community organisations during field trips in connection with its inquiries. As these discussions are not conducted under standing orders they are much more informal and allow for a much freer interchange of views than is normally possible in a public hearing context. In particular, they enable people who may be unwilling to submit themselves to the more formal procedures of a public hearing to express themselves openly. Hansard produces a precis of the informal discussions which is not published by the committee.

Although alternative processes of this nature can be helpful in particular inquiries, they are not regarded as a substitute for the normal hearing process under which witnesses may be questioned as fully as necessary to allow committee members to inform themselves on a matter. The information obtained in this manner does not have either the forensic value nor the technical status of formal evidence, although it can be used in committee reports, provided that the report indicates the manner in which the information has been obtained. Depending on the circumstances, the extent to which such informal proceedings enjoy parliamentary privilege could become an issue.

Minutes or a report, or both, on public meetings or seminars can be included in the committee’s records as an exhibit. The Hansard record of such proceedings is often not authorised for publication although it may be incorporated into the committee’s records as an exhibit.