Hansard
What is Hansard?
Hansard is the official record of debates in Parliament. It contains a verbatim record of everything that has been said in Parliament. All proceedings of Parliament are recorded on tape, and then hansard records are transcribed from the tapes by the hansard reporters within the Parliament Secretariat. It is important that the debates of Parliament are permanently recorded in Hansard, as it means that members and the people they represent can refer to what has been said in Parliament. In 2010, Parliament plans to move to digital recordings of Parliament, which will make it easier to keep and transcribe recordings.
What Hansard is available?
The Hansard of the Parliament of Nauru is not yet completely up to date, primarily because Parliament does not have the physical and human resources to produce Hansard immediately after each sitting, as is done in many larger Parliaments with greater resources. However, as part of the ongoing Parliamentary Strengthening Project, the Parliament Secretariat is working on the development of a system that will in future enable Hansard to be produced and published electronically within one week of each sitting, as well as ensuring the library of all past Hansard is complete. If you wish to access copies of Hansard, or enquire about what Hansard is available in the Parliamentary Library, please contact us. Early in 2010, Parliament will commence posting the most recent Hansard on this page in PDF format.
Votes and Proceedings
The Votes and Proceedings are the official minutes of Parliament sittings. They do not contain as much detail as Hansard, because they are not a transcript of everything that has been said. However the Votes and Proceedings do contain a lot of important information about what has taken place during each Parliament sitting, including a record of every motion moved and the votes on motions, all orders of business transacted at a sitting, and the full text of Ministerial statements and second reading speeches on bills. The Votes and Proceedings are generally available within 2-3 days after a sitting has ended. The Votes and Proceedings of all sittings from 2009 will soon be posted on this page. In the meantime, if you would like a copy of recent Votes and Proceedings, please contact us.
Committee transcripts
The Hansard staff also produce transcripts of Committee proceedings that are held in public. In 2009, the meetings of the Select Committee on Constitutional Amendment Bills and the Committee of the Whole have been held in the Chamber, and transcripts of these Committee meetings are available. The relevant transcripts will be posted on this page soon. In the meantime, if you would like electronic copies of any of these Committee transcripts, please contact us.