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Title

Ch4 Parliament House and access to proceedings / PARLIAMENTARY PRECINCTS AND THE EXERCISE OF AUTHORITY

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

124

Section No.

 

System Id

procedural/practcer/chapter04.29.doc


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Ch4 Parliament House and access to proceedings / PARLIAMENTARY PRECINCTS AND THE EXERCISE OF AUTHORITY



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House of Representatives                                Ch 4                                                 p 124

 

Parliament House and access to proceedings

 

Parliamentary precincts and the exercise of authority

The question of the extent of the precincts of the permanent Parliament House was resolved definitively in 1988 with the passage of the Parliamentary Precincts Act 1988 1 which provides as follows:

  • The boundary of the parliamentary precincts is the approximately circular line comprising the arcs formed by the outer edge of the top of the retaining wall near the inner kerb of Capital Circle, and in places where there is no retaining wall, arcs completing the circle. [Where there is no retaining wall, the circle is indicated by markers— see map at Schedule 1 of the Act.]

  • The parliamentary precincts consist of the land on the inner side of the boundary, and all buildings, structures and works, and parts of buildings, structures and works, on, above or under that land.

  • If the Presiding Officers certify in writing that specified property is required for purposes of the Parliament, regulations may declare that the property shall be treated as part of the parliamentary precincts for the purposes of the Act.

  • The precincts are under the control and management of the Presiding Officers who may, subject to any order of either House, take any action they consider necessary for the control and management of the precincts.

  • In respect of the ministerial wing in Parliament House, the powers and functions given to the Presiding Officers are subject to any limitations and conditions agreed between the Presiding Officers and the responsible Minister.

    • A parliamentary zone was declared by the Parliament when it passed the Parliament Act 1974 , which not only determined Capital Hill as the site for the permanent Parliament House but also defined the parliamentary zone within which no building or other work could be erected without the approval of both Houses of Parliament. 2 After the Act came into effect it became the practice that all such proposals were referred to the Joint Standing Committee on the New Parliament House for consideration and report and more recently, the Joint Standing Committee on the National Capital and External Territories. The zone comprises the area bounded by State Circle, Commonwealth and Kings Avenues and the southern edge of Lake Burley Griffin. Parliament House also falls within a designated area for which land use planning, development and construction proposals must be referred to the National Capital Authority for comment. 3

    In the United Kingdom both Houses, at the commencement of each session, order that during the session of Parliament the commissioner for police of the metropolis shall keep the streets leading to Parliament House free and open and ensure that no obstruction is permitted to hinder Lords or Members in approaching the House. 4 This order does not claim authority over the streets surrounding Parliament House, but facilitates the right of Members to have free access to attend the Parliament without molestation. 5

    The Australian Parliament similarly does not claim authority over the streets surrounding the parliamentary precincts although it does claim the right of access for its Members to attend the Parliament. In 1975 a judgment in the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory on an appeal against a conviction for a parking offence held that:

    Parliament enjoys certain privileges designed to ensure that it can effectively perform its function and there are some aspects of conduct concerning the operation of Parliament into which the courts will not inquire. Certain courtesies are customarily observed. Parliament, through the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the officers of the Parliament, controls the use of the buildings which it has for its purposes. Doubtless, it can also control the use of the immediate precincts of those buildings, but arrangements about such matters are made in a sensible and practical way, bearing in mind the reasonable requirements of Parliament. The fact is that there is no general abrogation of the ordinary law. It is not necessary for the effective performance by Parliament of its functions that there be any such abrogation. On the contrary, it must be very much in the interests of members, in their corporate and individual capacities, that the ordinary law should operate.

    . . . The fact is that the law respecting the privileges of Parliament is itself part of the ordinary law. Part of that law is found in the Bill of Rights 1688. In a well-known passage, Stephen J. said (in Bradlaugh v. Gossett (1884) 12 QBD271 at 283): ‘‘I know of no authority for the proposition that an ordinary crime committed in the House of Commons would be withdrawn from the ordinary course of criminal justice’’. 6

    Within the building, the Presiding Officers determine matters in relation to the overall allocation and use of space. 7 The Speaker alone has the authority to determine such matters as the allocation of seats in the Chamber and office suites to Members and the order of priority for the acceptance of bookings for House of Representatives committee rooms.



    Act No. 9 of 1988. The main provisions commenced, by proclamation, on 1 August 1988.



    Parliament Act 1974 , s. 5. E.g. VP 2002-04/420.



    Pursuant to interim arrangements under the ACT (Planning and Land Management) Act 1988 .



    May , 23rd edn, pp. 208-9.



    May , 23rd edn, pp. 143-4. See also Ch. on ‘Parliamentary privilege’.



    See Rees v. McCay [1975] 7 ACT R7.



    H.R. Deb. (28.8.52) 692; see also Ch. on ‘The Speaker, Deputy Speakers and officers’.