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Access to the Law in Australia the Commonwealth Parliamentary Library's Contribution

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2019

Mary Anne Neilsen
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Extract

It is often said that the effective working of a representative democracy depends on the availability of adequate information and the capacity for its independent evaluation. Such access, it is argued is a major contributor to restoring the significance of the Parliament. Similarly there is a commonly held view that access to justice depends on the laws of the Parliament and the courts being freely available to everyone.

Type
Research Article
Information
International Journal of Legal Information , Volume 28 , Issue 1 , Spring 2000 , pp. 56 - 69
Copyright
Copyright © 2000 by the International Association of Law Libraries 

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References

1. Jones, Barry, Sleepers Wake! Technology and the Future of Work, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1990, pp. 246 and 252 and Verrier, J R, The Future of Parliamentary Research Services: To Lead or to Follow, paper prepared for the IFLA Conference, Istanbul, August 1995.Google Scholar
2. In The AustLII papers: Background papers for the Law via the Internet 97’ Conference, 25-27 June 1997, p. 15.Google Scholar
3. The author acknowledges that other parts of the Information and Research Services Program also provide significant and valued services to Senators and Members in terms of individual client requests and general distribution products. See Department of the Parliamentary Library, Annual Report, 1997-98, pp. 11–30.Google Scholar
4. Department of the Parliamentary Library, Annual Report 1997-98, p. 24.Google Scholar
5. Bills Digest No. 45, 1996/97. Google Scholar
6. See Lovell, David, The sausage makers? Parliamentarians as Legislators, Canberra, Department of the Parliamentary Library, 1992.Google Scholar
7. For a general discussion of the role of Parliament in the Australian political system, see David Lovell, Ibid. Google Scholar
8. For example Health Legislation Amendment Bill 1997, Bills Digest, No. 114, 1997-98, p. 4.Google Scholar
9. Bills Digest, No. 172, 1998-99, pp. 4–5.Google Scholar
10. Bills Digest, No. 167, 1998-99, pp. 6–8.Google Scholar
11. Over 94% of Senators and Members elect to receive the printed copy of Digests, with the remainder preferring to obtain their copies from the Internet as required.Google Scholar
12. Senate Legal and Constitutional Legislation Committee, Constitutional Aspects of the Native Title Amendment Bill 1997, November 1997. In Senate Legislation Committees, Reports on the Consideration of Bills, Vol. 3, p 153.Google Scholar
13. The Native Title Amendment Bill 1997, Bills Digest No. 51 1997-98 was an 83 page document and the Native Title Amendment Bill 1998 [No.2], Bills Digest No. 171 1997-98 a 45 page document.Google Scholar
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15. Senate, Official Hansard, 29 April 1998, p. 4553.Google Scholar
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22. There was also a view that the Library has always published its General Distribution Papers in hard copy and Internet publishing is no more and no less than publishing in another form.Google Scholar
23. June 1999.Google Scholar
24. The full text of all original General Distribution Papers is available on the Internet at http://www.aph.gov.au/library/ Google Scholar
25. According to June Verrier, the Congressional Research Service's reluctance to put their material on the Internet is partly due to a fear of a diversion of resources by the need to respond to public inquiries or suggestions and, too, a fear that not just the focus of effort but its style may need to be changed if CRS material is to be in the public domain in this fashion. See J R Verrier, Seminar on Comparative Legislative Research Services Ottawa Canada, 2 April 1998: Report and Paper on Australian Parliamentary Information and Research Service Approaches to Client Feedback, Department of the Parliamentary Library, 1998 p. 6.Google Scholar
26. Ibid., p. 5.Google Scholar
27. Ibid. Google Scholar
28. In this part of the paper, I am particularly indebted to Kirsty Magery, a colleague in the Department of the Parliamentary Library, for reliance on her forthcoming paper, ‘The Internet and Australian Parliamentary Democracy’ to be published shortly in Parliamentary Affairs. Google Scholar
29. Department of the Parliamentary Reporting Staff, Annual Report 1997-98, p. 22.Google Scholar
30. Magery, K., Op cit. Google Scholar
31. Ibid. Google Scholar
32. However funding has recently been allocated by the Department of Finance and Administration for the provision of Internet in electorate offices.Google Scholar
33. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics study of the Use of the Internet by Householders, November 1998, the proportion of households with home Internet access increased with household income. Nearly 42% of households with incomes greater than $66,000 had home Internet access whereas the level of home Internet access fell below 10% for households with income below $27,000.Google Scholar
34. For a fuller discussion of the impact of the interactive capabilities of the Internet and their impact on democracy in Australia see K. Magery, Op cit. Google Scholar
35. Results of this evaluation will be published in the Department of the Parliamentary Library's, Annual Report, 1998-99. Google Scholar