Paul Calvert (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I present two reports relating to training provided by Senate officers for overseas legislatures. In tabling these two reports, I would like to alert honourable senators to the excellent work that has gone on for many years by Senate officers in training and supporting staff from other legislatures abroad. Department of the Senate staff have, as we all know, a special professionalism in supporting us in our work in this chamber, but the work they do in training clerks and other staff in foreign parliaments is much less known. Like my predecessors as President, I am an enthusiastic supporter of these initiatives and I take this opportunity to thank the Clerk of the Senate and all of the departmental officers involved, past and present, for their contribution in this field. I particularly thank the staff of the Senate Procedure Office, which has responsibility for coordinating the training assistance the department provides. The annual report of the Department of the Senate will henceforth include a list of such training programs undertaken, for the information of senators and others. I commend the reports to the Senate.

I table the following document:

Department of the Senate—Preparing Private Senators’ bills, explanatory memoranda and second reading speeches—A Guide for senators, dated August 2004.

I draw the attention of the Senate to the following statement:

On 24 March 2004, the Senate Standing Committee for the Scrutiny of Bills released its third report of 2004 The Quality of Explanatory Memoranda Accompanying Bills.

The Committee in its report recommended that the Department of the Senate develop a set of guidelines to assist Senators in the preparation of private bills. As Senators would be aware, in October 2004, the Department of the Senate developed and published a set of guidelines to assist Senators with the preparation of private bills and forwarded this to the Committee, and the intranet link to all Senators.

I remind Senators that the Guide remains available on the Senate Intranet.

As the Government is today tabling a government response to that report, I take the opportunity to also table the Department of the Senate’s guidelines - Preparing Private Senators’ Bills, Explanatory Memoranda and Second Reading Speeches.