41st Conference of Presiding Officers and Clerks of Australia and the Pacific Regions Darwin Australia 3 to 7 July 2010

The Acting Clerk to the Legislative Assembly, Mrs Gaye Evans JP, and I, as Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, represented our Parliament at the 41st Conference of Australian and Pacific Presiding Officers and Clerks which is held annually on rotation between the Australian Region and the Pacific Region. This year it was hosted by the Northern Territory Parliament under the Chairmanship of Speaker Jane Aargaard from Monday 5 July to and including Thursday 8 July 2010. There were fifty delegates including Presiding Officers and Clerks from ten Australian parliaments and seven Pacific parliaments, along with observers from Prince Edward Island (Canada), Timor-Leste, Tuvalu and Victorian Parliaments.

Some 14 papers were presented covering a wide range of topics including –

•Returning to the Fundamentals of Parliamentary Procedure (NSW)
•The modern Member of Parliament: legislator, ombudsman or social worker? (Queensland)
•Enhancing scrutiny in question time – new practices for questions without notice in the A.C.T. Legislative Assembly
•Promoting youth engagement with parliament: youth parliament (New Zealand)

Anyone wishing to read Conference papers should contact Mrs Gaye Evans on 22003 or by email on clerk@assembly.gov.nf.

Each parliament presented a report on their jurisdiction and Norfolk Island’s report is published in full below on this blog site.

The opportunity was taken for Presiding Officers and the Clerks to also meet independently of one another in a workshop environment, thereby allowing for independent discussion on issues specific to the roles that Presiding Officers and Clerks perform.

For example, issues discussed by the Presiding Officers covered areas such as Question Time Developments; Electronic Devices in Chamber; Dress standings in Chamber; Private Members’ Time v Executive Government’s time and Dealing with Difficult Members – all of which are topical to the Speakership of our Legislative Assembly.

A Management meeting of the Australian CPA Region was held as it always is at this annual conference along with a meeting of the Trustees of the CPA Education Trust Fund which provides funding on application to neighbouring parliaments in the Pacific Region for training and equipment up to the value of $20,000 annually.

Norfolk Island endeavours to be represented at this annual Conference whenever possible as the benefits of networking with the Presiding Officers and Clerk of each of the Australian and Pacific parliaments cannot be overstated.

Issued from the Office of the Speaker on 16 July 2010