FOR PRESS 28 AUGUST 1978
ADDRESS TO FIFTH CONFERENCE OF CONMONWEALTH SPEAKERS AND
PRESIDING OFFICERS -CANBERRA
Australia is particularly pleased to host this Conference,
the second Commonwealth meeting to be held in this country
this year.
The great success and personal warmth of the first Commonwealth
Heads of Government Regional Meeting last February, augurs
well for this and future Commonwealth meetings.
Amicable, open and candid discussions at these Conferences
consolidate and extend the ties which bind us together.
Through times of success and times of adversity the Commonwealth
has endured showing a remarkable ability to adapt to changeuntil,
today, it comprises a diverse but cohesive grouping of
nations, encompassing the aligned and the non-aligned, the
developing and the industrialised. To a degree it is because of
our very diversity that the Commonwealth is highly valued by its
members. The themes of cooperation and consultation in the face
of escalating world problems form the basis of the enduring
Commonwealth relationship.
Each of us confronts our own national difficulties, as well as
facing problems of world magnitude. Talking together enables us
to place in perspective our own problems, while gaining strength
and knowledge to cooperate in facing global issues.
Tolerance, a quality we all value, grows with understanding.
It is by exposing our ideas in discussion with each other that
we can test their real worth, and in the process enhance our own
capacity to adjust to world events and the opinions of others.
Parliament is also a forum in which much exposing of opinions occurs
although I am not sure how much adjustment of opinions takes place
as aresult. The role of the Presiding Officer of each House is
of course a vital one. It is his task to maintain the pre-eminence
and good name of Parliament, while protecting the rights and
privileges of individual members. The Presiding Officer
must encourage unstinting observance of the democratic tradition
within the Parliament, supported by the belief that if the highest
standards are maintained in a nation's governing body, they shall,
in turn, be encouraged in all areas of national life. / 2
It is also the Presiding Officer's task to promote reforms of
the procedures of Parliament which enhance its effectiveness,
provided they do not unnecessarily lose touch with the
centuries of tradition against which these procedures have
evolved. Tradition rightly plays a most important part in the procedures
which our Parliaments follow. Adherence to traditional
forms of debate and passage of legislation provides stability
arnd a greater consciousness of our past.
We should always be looking for ways to improve the way in
which Parliament functions, but there is no merit at all in
changing traditional procedures unless some clear and desirable
benefit can be seen to flow from such a change being made.
It is only natural that this Conference of Speakers and
Presiding Officers should include in its agenda a discussion of
reforms of Parliamentary procedure which serve to strengthen our
democratic institutions.
Conferences such as this enable a better appreciation of the ways of
others, so that, when reviewing our own procedures we are able to
draw on the experience and practices of other nations.
In Australia, we have drawn on the British experience in establishing
this year Legislation Committees of the House of Representatives.
The Committees, which will comprise between 13 and 19 Members,
are a microcosm of the Committee of the whole and are intended
to be an alternative to that Committee. I believe that,
with experience, we shall find that the Legislation Committeeswith
their small membership and without being confined by strict
rules of debate will be able to give closer attention to
proposed laws than at present occurs.
This year we have also blazed a small trail of our own with regard
to the reports of Parliamentary Cominittees. Procedures have been
established which are designed to see that the valuable work of
these Committees receives prompt and proper government consideration.
The Government has undertaken that a Minister will make a statement
to Parliament within six months of the presentation of each report,
outlining the action, if any, which the Government proposes to
take on the recommendations of the report.
Through sharing the knowledge gained from such innovations we can
strengthen the sinews of Parliamentary government. Parliamentary
procedures do vary significantly throughout the Commonwealth,
in large part reflecting our differing cultural heritage and
customs. It is the task of each of us to strive to preserve the best
of our heritage, while retaining a keen interest in new ideas and in
better means of achieving the common ends we share.
I am particularly pleased to welcome the Clerks of the Parliament
to this Conference, for they can bring to bear on these issues their
experience and broad knowledge which we see in evidence on every
Parliamentary sitting day. Ladies and gentlemen, I wish you well in
your deliberations.