David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Hansard source

The answer to the honourable member’s question is as follows:

(1)

House of Representatives and Senate bound volumes of Hansard for the 41st Parliament, first session, first to fourth periods (16 November 2004 to 9 December 2005) are in the final stages of production. They have been printed and are being bound and lettered. The extended delay in producing the bound volumes was due to a misunderstanding with the printing contractor which came to light in April 2006. The printing contractor is planning a staged delivery of the 18 volumes (11 House of Representatives and 7 Senate) to be completed in 6-8 weeks, starting with the first three House of Representatives volumes which are ready for distribution. Bound volumes for 2006 will be produced following delivery of all the bound volumes from 2005.

(2)

There are no formal guidelines on production dates or timeframes for bound volumes of Hansard.  DPS’s contract with the printing contractor states that bound volumes should be produced “within six months of the provision of the Official master copy of the final sitting week [of a sitting period]”. That provision was not met for 2005 due to the misunderstanding with the printing contractor.

(3)

DPS is developing a Hansard printing policy, which will include guidelines for the production of bound volumes of Hansard.

See this speech in context