Parliamentary Debates (Hansard) - Australia (Commonwealth)

Title: Committee Transcripts

Dates at this location:	Estimates Committees, 1988-. House 1993-, Senate 1995-, Joint 1994-
Format:	Online
Notes:	Search access via ParlInfo Web database
URL:	http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/se arch.w3p;adv=yes;

Committee Transcripts is a Current Series of Parliamentary Debates (Hansard) - Australia (Commonwealth)

Committees are set up to investigate and report their findings to Parliament and comprise a stated number of members from each side of the house, with government members being in the majority. Committees may be Standing or Select Committees, and may also be Joint Committees of both Houses.

The first Committees of the Commonwealth Parliament were "domestic" committees, such as the Library and Printing Committees, formed in 1901; select committees were also formed from the beginning, and in 1913 the first joint statutory committees were formed: the Public Works Committee and the Public Accounts Committee. The present committee system did not evolve until the 1970, however, when several Senate Standing Committees were established.

Committee Transcripts, also called Hansards, debates, minutes, or proceedings of evidence, may be published separately or with the report of the committee.

Some committee reports and evidence are to be found only in the various Parliamentary Papers series, and some evidence for earlier decades is to be found in the general Hansard.

To find committee transcripts, the most important step is first to establish the exact name of the committee. This can be done from the following sources: Parliamentary handbooks; government directories; general Hansards. Then consult the library catalogue under the name of the committee or legislature as organisation author, to find the call number.