In 2013–14, the department continued to develop its strategy to promote community engagement with the work of the House of Representatives and its committees. While some activities and services were affected by the federal election period, during which the House and its committees were not operating, new opportunities to engage with the community were pursued with success. The International and Community Relations Office (ICRO) continued to lead the implementation of the department’s community outreach strategy, working with other departmental areas in delivering a variety of multimedia products and services.

In 2013–14, the budget allocation for the component was $1.175 million and expenditure was $0.987 million. Staff levels, by location, are shown in Appendix 11.

Performance summary

Drawing together various community engagement initiatives developed over a decade, the department issued its community outreach strategy for 2013–16. The strategy involves an integrated approach to community outreach using a range of multimedia products and services, with an increasing focus on the use of digital and online media. The popularity of those products, particularly the About the House magazine and our social media platforms, is recognised by their central place in the community outreach strategy.

Community liaison

Print and electronic media

Social media moved to the forefront of our efforts to connect the community with the work of the House. The number of subscribers to and followers of our social media accounts and channels grew significantly. We increased our Twitter following by 6,400 to more than 18,800 subscribers. Our Twitter presence has become recognised as a valuable resource by the media, community groups and members of the public, who have provided positive feedback when interacting with us. Our Facebook page now has more than 1,500 fans, an increase of nearly 1,000 since June 2013.

The House of Representatives YouTube channel was launched to coincide with the opening of the Forty-fourth Parliament in November 2013. At 25 June 2014 it had 665 subscribers, and the 88 published videos had been viewed a total of 53,672 times. The videos include parliamentary committee chairs explaining the focus of their committees’ work.

The increased use of social media resulted in a decline in subscribers to our email alert service. At 25 June 2014 there were 2,306 subscribers to the alert service, compared with 3,300 at the same time last year.

We introduced a new television segment called Parliament Diary, broadcast on the Sky News and Australian Public Affairs (A-PAC) channels on the mornings of House of Representatives sitting days. The segment features the Speaker providing a preview of business before the House. Sky News has indicated that the segment is a welcome inclusion in its popular morning television program.

We continued to produce our other two television programs (About the House and MPI) which are also broadcast on A-PAC. Segments are also loaded onto our About the House web page and YouTube channel. The MPI program was revamped to improve the format and link it more closely to our About the House magazine, with a view to including segments of the program in a future digital version of the magazine.

The break in parliamentary work during the federal election period meant that the About the House magazine was not published during the year. Because much of the magazine’s content is focused on the work of parliamentary committees, it was not possible to publish an edition until the committees had done some detailed work. The first edition for the Forty-fourth Parliament is planned for the first quarter of 2014–15, and we will then transition the magazine into a digital format. 

Seminars and presentations

In 2013–14, four seminars were conducted on the work and procedure of the House of Representatives (compared to 11 in 2012–13). Two of these were seminars for individual government departments and organisations.

There were 122 participants in the overall seminar program (a decrease of 198 from 2012–13). The seminar statistics reflected the usual trend of fewer seminars and fewer participants in the year of a federal election. Evaluations by seminar participants were collected electronically; the average ratings are detailed in Table 7.

Table 7 Seminar average ratings, 2013–14 (%)

Projects and events

In 2013 the parliamentary departments supported the celebration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the occupation of Parliament House. The department took a lead role in coordinating the anniversary Open Day, held on 24 August 2013. The Open Day followed on from a number of events in the first half of 2013 to mark the anniversary, including the publication of a book, Interwoven: the commissioned art and craft for Parliament House, and a special morning tea to acknowledge and thank all those who have worked at Parliament House.

ICRO was the principal coordinator for the Open Day, chairing an interdepartmental committee responsible for staging the event. The Open Day attracted more than 8,000 visitors to the building and included tours, exhibitions and a program of events and ntertainment. The overall theme was ‘Threads of our nation’, recognising in particular the art and craft that had been woven into the fabric
of the building.

In conjunction with the twenty-fifth anniversary, the department staged an exhibition at Parliament House called ‘The people’s house’. It focused on the ways in which the community can engage with the House of Representatives, its members and its committees.

As part of the department’s community outreach strategy, youth are identified as a particular audience for engagement. Three projects were undertaken during the year to engage young people with the House of Representatives:

• the My First Speech competition for year 10 to 12 students, which involved students submitting a video of the first speech they would make if they were elected to the House of Representatives. The competition attracted 104 entries from senior high school students from across Australia
• the Speaker’s University Challenge, which involved a debate between students of the Australian National University and the University of Melbourne at Parliament House during Open Day
• Movement at the House, which was a collaboration with television station MTV, the Museum of Australian Democracy at Eureka and Deloitte Digital. It involved the selection of a youth representative (the ‘millennial leader’) who undertook a week-long program at Parliament House in February 2014 to engage with parliamentarians, lobbyists and the media to better understand how the House of Representatives works and to advocate for issues of particular interest to young Australians.

The winner of the My First Speech competition, Johnson Ye from Perth Modern School in Western Australia, said the opportunity to visit Canberra and present his speech at the Parliament House Open Day was ‘a truly exceptional experience’. Olly Tripodi from Victoria, who was chosen as the Movement at the House millennial leader, said his visit to Canberra for the project was ‘an invaluable experience’ that helped to open doors for him and other youth advocates.

Parliamentary assistants program

In 2013–14 the parliamentary assistants program, successfully run by the Serjeant-at-Arms’ Office, entered its fourteenth year. The program offers university students part-time employment in the House of Representatives in order to promote understanding and engagement with the work of the parliament. (For further details Members' services and corporate support section.)

Parliamentary internship program

The Australian National Internship Program has operated since 1993 under an agreement between the Vice-Chancellor of the Australian National University and the Parliament’s Presiding Officers. Australian and international students enrolled at the university under the program undertake an internship placement of about 10 weeks as part of their formal course of undergraduate study.

In the second semester of 2013, because of the proximity of the election, students were not placed with a member or senator. In the first semester of 2014, of the 33 interns, 17 were placed with a member or senator.

The departments of the House of Representatives and the Senate, as well as the Parliamentary Library, assist the program. The House and Senate departments provide an orientation seminar for all students before they take up their placements at Parliament House and elsewhere. During the placement, each student completes a research project on a subject agreed with their host. The report is assessed by the university and counts towards the student’s degree.

The program has continued to provide students from around Australia and from other countries with an opportunity to extend and complement their academic studies by studying and working within the parliamentary environment.

Parliamentary exchange program for Australian Defence Force

Each year, a small number of Australian Defence Force representatives spend a week at Parliament House, hosted by a member or senator. This arrangement began in 2003 as an expansion of a program begun in 2001, under which members and senators took up a short placement with Defence personnel and participated in their working lives. Arrangements for participation by members and senators are made through the Parliamentary Secretary for Defence in conjunction with the Department of Defence.

The program usually takes place in September or October, but because of the 2013 election the program for 2013–14 was brought forward to June 2013, with members and senators hosting 15 Defence Force representatives (five from each of the services).

The departments of the House of Representatives and the Senate collaborate to support the exchange program and each provides orientation seminars on the work of the Chamber and committees.

Public visits to the House

Public visits to observe proceedings

In 2013–14, public interest in the sittings of the House of Representatives continued to be high, although there were relatively fewer sitting days during the reporting period as a result of the 2013 election. The interest was reflected in the numbers of visitors to the House of Representatives galleries. Over the 53 sitting days, 43,710 people attended the galleries, and visitor numbers peaked at more than 1,000 visitors per day on 16 occasions. In the budget and budget reply week, more than 4,269 visitors attended some part of proceedings.

The high level of interest partly reflected a number of high-profile parliamentary events during the year. This included the opening of the Forty-fourth Parliament, the new government’s first budget and the opposition’s first budget reply. More than 1,432 people visited the chamber on budget day (13 May 2014), slightly down from 1,700 in 2013, and 1,720 people visited on budget reply night, down from 3,370 in 2013.

These major events required close coordination between the Serjeant-at-Arms’ Office and the Parliamentary Security Service to ensure that all gallery visitors went through a secondary security screening outside the gallery entrances in an efficient and timely manner. Departmental and security staff also worked together to ensure that chamber proceedings continued without interruption as people moved through the galleries.

Parliamentary Education Office

Although administered by the Department of the Senate, the PEO is a joint office and receives part funding from the department. Its mission is to provide parliamentary education services to schools, teachers and students. It also provides parliamentary education support services to members and senators.

The two departments liaise closely on the PEO’s strategic direction and the content of its teaching, educational material and online resources through the PEO Advisory Committee, jointly chaired by the Deputy Speaker and Deputy President. The committee can also provide the Presiding Officers with advice on the support needs of members and senators in relation to parliamentary education. The committee met in June 2014. The Clerk Assistant (Table) attended as an observer.

In 2013–14, 87,657 students from around Australia participated in the PEO’s experiential role-play program at Parliament House (compared with 94,015 students in 2012–13). This represents a decrease of 6.7 per cent, which may be attributable to many factors, including the federal election in 2013, centenary events in adjoining years and the practice of many schools only visiting every two years or longer. Notwithstanding the reduction this year, the attendance figures remain comparable to recent years and reflect the continued popularity of the PEO’s role-play program. A number of members of parliament and senators met with student groups when they visited Parliament House. The cumulative total of students who have participated in the role-play programs since the Parliament House building opened on 9 May 1988 is more than 1.8 million.

A new parliamentary venue management system, which includes school tour bookings, has recently been implemented and is undergoing refinement. When fully functional, the system will provide improved information and services to schools and tour operators booking student programs at Parliament House.

The PEO continues to invest in a comprehensive range of outreach strategies to ensure it is able to provide parliamentary education services to a broad student population, not just those able to travel to Canberra.

The PEO website remains a highly effective and popular vehicle for the dissemination of parliamentary education material and resources to teachers and students located around Australia. PEO website patronage increased in 2013–14 to 719,124 visitor sessions. When compared to the 590,827 visitor sessions in 2012–13, this represents a significant increase of over 21 per cent in visitor sessions. The increase may reflect the complete redesign of the website in early 2014, which has improved usability and broadened audience appeal.

During the year the PEO continued to revise and update web content and developed significant new content, including an interactive parliamentary timeline. Additional material for secondary students was also added, and the PEO continued to develop and field information about current parliamentary events and the achievements and statistics of both the Forty-third and Forty-fourth parliaments.

The PEO continued its work with members and senators on a limited scale through a targeted school visit program called Parliament Alive. In the reporting period, visits took place under the program to schools in regional western Victoria, regional eastern South Australia, outback Queensland, northern Tasmania and outer metropolitan Perth in Western Australia. These activities provided participating students with an invaluable opportunity to learn firsthand about the role and work of their federal member or senator. A highlight of the Parliament Alive program was the active involvement of members and senators.
In addition to Parliament Alive, the PEO conducted a number of specially targeted activities at Parliament House involving students, trainee and qualified teachers, parliamentary visitors and Indigenous groups. These activities included overseeing the long-running Rotary Adventure in Citizenship program in budget week and supporting several National Youth Science Forums in January.

The PEO also continued to produce a wide range of educational resources, both in print and online, including several new educational videos for students and teachers. Several short single-subject videos for students and teachers in the ‘Snapshots’ series were produced and posted online, and an instructional video for teachers to encourage them to role-play the parliament in the classroom was produced. Demand for PEO publications and resources from both teachers and parliamentarians continued to be strong over the course of the year. PEO publications and resources were regularly reviewed and updated to ensure their currency, accuracy and ongoing relevance.

During the year the PEO actively monitored the development of the national curriculum in civics and citizenship. The draft curriculum has prompted the development of targeted lesson plans for teachers and new resources for secondary students.

Improving performance

The department’s community outreach strategy for 2013–16 outlines a clear strategic direction for further developing our multimedia products and services.

We increased our use of social media and online engagement, providing enhanced opportunities to connect the community with the House of Representatives and its committees through cost-effective media.

The new parliamentary venue management system is planned for full implementation next year. The new system should provide a more user-friendly and efficient booking service that enables schools to book visits to the building and building occupants to make committee room and courtyard bookings online.

Outlook

Implementation of the community outreach strategy will remain an important focus of the department’s work. An administrative restructure, occasioned by the Presiding Officers’ response to a review of the parliament’s international program (see Inter-parliamentary relations section ), will enable the team to explore new opportunities as the delivery of our services takes a stronger online focus.

We will transition from a print version of the About the House magazine to a digital publication. This will provide the opportunity for increased use of video material in connection with the magazine and will ensure that community engagement through the magazine enjoys the benefits of the latest developments in electronic publishing.

We will continue to encourage youth engagement with the House of Representatives through activities such as the My First Speech competition and the Speaker’s University Challenge.

The Serjeant-at-Arms’ Office will continue to meet regularly and work with our colleagues in the PEO and Visitor Services, as well as the wider community, to provide the best possible service to the variety of people who visit Parliament House.