Download Word

House of Representatives                                Ch 6                                                 p 177

Control over Parliament House

Section 6 of the Parliamentary Precincts Act 1988 provides that the parliamentary precincts are under the control and management of the Presiding Officers. It further provides that they 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 these powers are subject to any limitations and conditions agreed between the Presiding Officers and a particular Minister. Prior to the enactment of this provision, however, the authority of the Presiding Officers had become well established in practice. The Speaker exercises singular authority over the House of Representatives area in Parliament House. In 1901 Speaker Holder said:

Before the order of the day is called on, I have to inform the House that I have made a careful examination of that part of the building which is at the disposal of Members of the House of Representatives. I may mention at once that, in my opinion, the accommodation for members, officers, and the press is extremely limited . . . Honourable members may rest assured that I shall do all in my power to study their convenience and comfort in every possible way, and I am sure that the Right Honourable the Prime Minister will assist me in that direction. ¹

In 1931 Speaker Makin ruled out of order an amendment relating to his action in excluding a journalist from the press gallery on the ground that it infringed the authority vested in the Speaker. ²

On 24 October 1919 Speaker Johnson in a statement to the House noted that it appeared the Economies Royal Commission, appointed by Governor-General’s warrant, intended to investigate certain parliamentary services. The Votes and Proceedings record Speaker Johnson informing the House:

As this Royal Commission had no authority from this Parliament, so far as he was aware, to interfere in any way with the various services of Parliament, it was his duty to call the attention of honourable Members to this proposed serious encroachment on the rights and privileges of Parliament by the appointment of a tribunal unauthorised by Parliament to inquire into matters over which the Legislature had absolute and sole control.  . . . . He did not propose, unless he was so directed by the House, whose mouth-piece he was, to sanction any inquiry of the kind which was not authorized by Parliament itself. ³

On 27 August 1952 Speaker Cameron informed the House that it appeared that a Member had engaged in a campaign of deliberate opposition to the Chair and the authority which he exercised in Parliament House. The Member later in a statement to the House assured Mr Speaker that at no time had he any thought of such a campaign. He expressed his regret and made an unqualified withdrawal of the text of telegrams he had sent to Mr Speaker and certain newspapers concerning the removal of the title Parliamentary Under-Secretary from the door of his office. ⁴ Speaker Cameron said:

I want to make it perfectly clear that this building is public property, and that the Speaker of the House of Representatives is the custodian—the only custodian—of that property. He is the only authority who has the right, in this part of the building, to allot a room, to arrange for furniture, and to command the staff as to what they shall or shall not do. ⁵

In 1968 Prime Minister Gorton supported this view:

The Houses of Parliament, their arrangements, their furnishings and what is placed in them are under the control of the Presiding Officers and are not a field, I think, in which the Executive as such should seek to intrude. ⁶

In 1980, during a strike by journalists, Speaker Snedden was asked whether steps had been taken to see that no ‘unauthorised person’ was using the facilities of the Press Gallery. Speaker Snedden replied that a resolution had been passed by the Federal Parliamentary Press Gallery asking, inter alia, that the passes of two named persons be withdrawn and that no new members be admitted without consultation with the Gallery Committee. The Speaker stated that the Presiding Officers retained, absolutely and solely, the right to determine admission to the Gallery, and that although he had and would, in normal circumstances, consult with the Gallery Committee, under no circumstances would he take action to prevent any media representative whom he judged to be qualified and competent to report proceedings from coming to the Gallery to report them. ⁷

H.R. Deb. (21.5.01) 76.

H.R. Deb. (30.4.31) 1491.

VP 1917-19/587.

VP 1951-53/387, 393.

H.R. Deb. (28.8.52) 692.

H.R. Deb. (24.10.68) 2292.

H.R. Deb. (14.5.80) 2693-4.