Parliament House : News from the Hill

All the staff at the About the House website would like to wish you a safe and happy Christmas and New Year. The website will be regularly updated again from the 12 January in 2009.

The House of Representatives Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee will review the effectiveness of the federal government’s draft Disability (Access to Premises - Buildings) Standards.

Equal work for equal pay is a principle most workplaces support, but statistics show the pay packets of women still lag behind those of their male counterparts. An inquiry into pay equity by the Employment and Workplace Relations committee has revealed that women are being paid 15% less than men.

The operation of local community stores in remote Indigenous communities is the focus of a new inquiry by the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs.

The ParlReplay of Question Time of 12 November 2008 is now available in streaming video from the About the House website.


This edition of Question Time includes Condolences for the late Hon Frank Crean, Member for Melbourne Ports 1951-1977.


The video is available as in Flash format, in both high and low resolution formats. A Question Time extract of Hansard (the transcript of proceedings) is also available from the page.


This video content will be available from the site for approximately one month.

About the House magazine, issue 35 is now available online.

All the feature articles are available for download as well as the full magazine in pdf format.

On Monday 24 November, the Federal Parliament’s Treaties Committee will hear evidence on the impact of climate change on Australia’s agricultural sector as part of its inquiry into the implementation of the Kyoto Protocol in Australia.

As Australia battles an economic downturn due to the global credit crunch, there should be heightened interest in the views of the Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia, Glenn Stevens on interest rates, growth and inflation when he next fronts the House of Representatives Economics Committee’s public hearing at Parliament House in Canberra on Friday 20 February 2009.

The Joint Standing Committee on Treaties has been invited by the Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to undertake an inquiry into Australia’s involvement in nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament treaties.

A group of seven parliamentarians from Afghanistan are undertaking an historic visit to the Australian Parliament this week.

A federal parliamentary committee report offers a new approach to funding infrastructure such as public halls, sporting facilities, social clubs and tourist attractions across regional and local communities.

The House of Representatives Health Committee will travel to Western Australia this week to visit a thriving communal community garden in West Leederville and also hear from leading community health experts on how to counter obesity.

The Public Works Committee is conducting an inquiry into a major proposal by the Department of Defence (Defence) to redevelop the Puckapunyal Base in Seymour, Victoria.

The House of Representatives Petitions Committee is holding its first public hearing with petitioners in Melbourne on Thursday, 30 October. People who have already presented petitions to the House will speak to the Petitions Committee about their concerns.

The 2009 Parliamentary Sitting Calendar has been released and is now available to download from our website.

The calendar is available in PDF format, with HTLM, text-only and iCalendar versions to follow.

The Chair of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government tabled the Committee’s report into coastal shipping policy and regulation in Parliament on Monday 20 October 2008.

The House of Representatives Family and Community Committee will hear evidence from two national peak organisations, the Mental Health Council of Australia (MHCA) and the National Council on Intellectual Disability (NCID), at a public hearing to be held in Parliament House on Wednesday 22 October, between 10.15 am and 11.15 am.

The Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit will hold a public hearing in Canberra on 22 October 2008 to finalise its inquiry into the effect of the efficiency dividend on small agencies.

The chair of the Parliament’s Treaties Committee Kelvin Thomson has tabled the Committee’s Report 95. The reports reviews 12 proposed treaty actions, including the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities; the Australia-Chile Free Trade Agreement.

The council representing major food and drink manufacturers such as Coca-Cola Amatil, Nestle, Kelloggs and Cadbury Schweppes , along with public health advocates like the Heart Foundation and Nutrition Australia , will be attending a Melbourne public hearing for an inquiry into obesity.

The outcomes of the electronic voting trials at the 2007 Federal election, conducted for people who are blind or have low vision and also for selected Australian Defence Force personnel serving overseas, will be one of the main issues to be examined by Federal parliament’s Electoral Matters Committee at a public hearing on Friday 17 October.

Better recognition of volunteers, a broader definition of volunteering and greater encouragement of young volunteers are among key issues raised in a discussion paper presented to federal parliament on 13 October by the House of Representatives Family and Community Committee.

The parliamentary Human Right Sub-Committee is set to examine international and regional human rights mechanisms and models for the Asia-Pacific in its new inquiry.

The House of Representatives Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Innovation will hold the final public hearing for its inquiry into research training and research workforce issues at Parliament House on Wednesday (24 September).

Federal parliament’s Treaties Committee has released a report recommending against ratifying an agreement with the Russian Federation on cooperation in the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes until Russia meets certain conditions to guard against use of this uranium in weapons. If this agreement proceeds, it will, for the first time, allow Australia to provide uranium for use in Russia ’s nuclear power plants.

The September 2008 issue of the About the House magazine is available from our website in PDF format.


About the House is a free colour feature magazine produced up to five times a year by the Liaison and Projects Office of the House of Representatives. It covers the varied work of Members of the House, especially Committee investigations. The magazine is available through the offices of every Member of the House of Representatives, or can be ordered directly through the Liaison and Projects Office (telephone: freecall 1800 139 299, email: liaison.reps@aph.gov.au).