Function and purpose
On 26 August 1954, the House of Representatives referred to the Privileges Committee, for a full investigation, allegations that a confidential Hansard proof had been made available for the purposes of an article that appeared in the Century newspaper dated 20 August 1954. [1] The referral was prompted by the Member for Henty, Mr Henry Gullett.
The Committee conducting the inquiry consisted of Mr Clark, Mr Joske, Mr McLeay (Chairman), Mr Morgan, Mr Sheehan, Mr Swartz, and Mr Turnbull.
The Committee met on 31 August, 1, 7, 8, 22 and 28 September 1954. It called upon and examined Mr FC Green, Clerk of the House of Representatives; Professor KH Bailey, Solicitor-General; Mr AG Cameron, Speaker of the House of Representatives and Mr JT Lang, Managing Editor of the Century.
On 29 September 1954, the Committee presented to the House their report entitled Report from the Standing Committee of Privileges relating to the Alleged Mis-use of a Hansard proof together with Minutes of Proceedings of the Committee.[2]
The Committee found that it was unable to find any evidence that any person had been guilty of a breach of privilege. It also opined that Hansard should be issued daily or twice weekly to avoid abuses that may arise from the long delays in issuing corrected proofs.[3]
This series comprises one item only. This item appears to be the only Privileges Committee file extant for this particular inquiry.
Relationships with other records
The item in this series was registered into A1842 Correspondence Files, Two Number Series. This series has been registered as a separate series since the Privileges Committee records were maintained as a distinct physical entity by the Privileges Committee secretariat.
Finding aids
The item in this series in the custody of the National Archives as at December 2000 has been entered onto RecordSearch.
Access conditions
The records in this series were authorised for publication on 1 January 2001 by a motion passed by the House of Representatives on 7 December 2000. They were authorised for release to the public by the Speaker of the House of Representatives on 20 December 2000.
End notes
1. Votes and Proceedings, 1954-55 Session, p.43.
2. Votes and Proceedings, 1954-55 Session, p.81. The report was not printed and so is not available in Parliamentary Papers. The report consulted in the preparation of this note may be found in Item 1 of this series.
3. Report from the Standing Committee of Privileges relating to the Alleged Mis-use of a Hansard proof together with Minutes of Proceedings of the Committee, Canberra, 1954, p.2 as in Item 1 of this series.
Sources
LM Barlin (editor), House of Representatives Practice (3rd edition), Canberra, 1997 as published online at www.aph.gov.au December 2000.