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Ch4 Parliament House and access to proceedings / THE CHAMBER / The Main Committee chamber



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House of Representatives                                Ch 4                                                 p 115

 

Parliament House and access to proceedings / THE CHAMBER

 

The Main Committee chamber

The Main Committee meets in the largest of the House of Representatives committee rooms on the second floor of Parliament House. This room has been dedicated to its role and is fitted out in a small-scale chamber setting. Like the Chamber of the House the Main Committee has a horseshoe shaped seating configuration. 1 Members do not have fixed seats, but in practice government and opposition Members sit on the right and left of the Chair respectively. There are galleries (at floor level) for advisers, the media and the public. Proceedings are televised on the House monitoring system.

In 2000 the Procedure Committee recommended that the name of the Main Committee be changed to ‘Second Chamber’ and that it be relocated adjacent to the Chamber. 2 In 2004 the committee again pressed for a purpose-built venue, recommending the name ‘Federation Chamber’. 3



Seating is provided for 38 Members, and there is room for additional seating if required.



Standing Committee on Procedure, The Second Chamber: Enhancing the Main Committee , PP 158 (2000) 33-5. The name of the House of Representatives Main Committee originated in the term ‘Main Legislation Committee’. This became ‘Main Committee (Legislation)’ in the October 1993 Procedure Committee report About time: bills, questions and working hours, which recommended the concept of parallel legislative streams. ‘Legislation’ was dropped from the name before the Main Committee’s establishment in 1994, when committee and delegation reports and motions to take note of papers were included as matters that could be referred.



Standing Committee on Procedure, Renaming the Main Committee—Celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Main Committee , June 2004. The committee’s concern about the name reflected the possible confusion with the Parliament House main committee room, use of which is shared by the Senate and the House.