Australia
Kelly Buchanan
Chief, Foreign, Comparative, and International Law Division II
In the Parliament of Australia, the production, management, and publication of various types of parliamentary documents are governed by different laws, depending on the context, and by the standing orders, resolutions, and other orders of the two houses of Parliament (the House of Representatives and the Senate). The Parliament's website is the primary online source for all parliamentary documents and provides access to ParlInfo Search (which enables users to search and obtain parliamentary information resources), ParlView (a video archive service), and the ParlWork application (which provides a consolidated view of live, real-time chamber business information).
The Department of Parliamentary Services has overall responsibility for the information systems and services of the Parliament. It is also responsible for the production of Hansard (the report of proceedings of the Parliament and its committees) and for recording, broadcasting, and archiving the audio and audiovisual record of chamber and committee proceedings. The clerks of the House and Senate head two additional parliamentary departments that serve as the secretariats of the respective houses. These departments are responsible for producing and managing a range of parliamentary documents, including the creation of documents to facilitate the business of the two houses, such as the minutes of meetings, and the processing of documents that are tabled in (i.e., presented to) the Parliament. Special procedures apply to Parliamentary Papers, which are a subset of tabled documents. Under resolutions of each house, particular types of documents are made Parliamentary Papers and are published, indexed, and distributed to relevant entities.
The Parliamentary Library is part of the Department of Parliamentary Services. It provides information, analysis, and advice to senators, members, and their staff. In addition to commissioned research, it publishes the Parliamentary Handbook of the Commonwealth of Australia, blog posts, bills digests, and research publications on policy issues. It maintains a collection for use within the Parliament, selects and processes material for library and media databases in ParlInfo Search, and is involved in projects to digitize and make available historical materials.
The parliamentary departments work together on various projects related to providing online access to parliamentary information. The Australian Parliamentary Digital Strategy 2019-2022 states that "[t]he provision of digital services for the Parliament is underpinned by comprehensive governance and advisory arrangements” and sets out strategies and associated objectives related to, for example, providing access to key parliamentary information and data sources, and developing a digital preservation framework to ensure the permanent preservation of parliamentary business information. The corporate documents of the departments provide information on current and recent projects related to digital records of parliamentary documents.
