This search tool provides an easier way to find committee content on the APH website.

Currently it covers the following:

• Committees (Current and former)
• Inquiries (Current and completed)
• Hearings (Completed, postponed, scheduled, and cancelled)

Search results can be limited when searching results prior to 2011. For records not covered by the search, visit the Senate, House, or Joint committees pages.

Searching

Entering a keyword into the search bar and clicking search will return all results where the keyword matches part of the title. A 'Search by' option is provided in the filters sidebar and the search widget to allow the search method to be switched between 'Title only' and 'Title and summary'. Searching by 'Title and summary' will return all results where the keyword matches part of the title or the summary text displayed on the screen.

Sorting Results

The ordering of the results produced by the search can be changed by using the 'Sort by' option. Users can decide whether to order the results by 'Best match', 'Most recent first', 'Most recent last', 'Title A-Z' and 'Title Z-A', and then click the 'Search' or 'Apply Filters' button to perform a new search.

Search using a date range

Search results are also able to be limited by specifying a date range. This can be done by selecting a predefined date preset or by selecting a parliament number, as well as manually specifying a 'From' and 'To' date using the input boxes provided.

Please note that searching using the 'From' and 'To' dates will return all results which overlap the chosen dates. This means that, for example, when searching for all committees active in 2016 using 01/01/2016 to 31/12/2016 the results returned will include committees which satisfy the following conditions:

• Started prior to 01/01/2016 and ended after 31/12/2016
• Started prior to 01/01/2016 and ended before 31/12/2016
• Started after 01/01/2016 but before 31/12/2016, and ended after 31/12/2016

Filtering results

Using the checkboxes in the search widget or the filters sidebar will allow the results returned by the search to be narrowed down. Checking or unchecking any combination of these results and then 'Search' button if you are on the initial search widget page, or clicking the 'Apply Filters' button if you are on the search results page, will perform a new search returning only the results which match the currently applied filters.

Checking multiple filters across the different filter categories (Chamber/Result Type/Status) allows for a very specific subset of results to be returned. For example, checking 'Senate' and 'Inquiries' will return only inquiries from the Senate chamber, and committee and hearing results will not be included in the search results.

By default, most of the filters will be unchecked. Within each filter category if none of the checkboxes are ticked, then all results will be included in the search.

All currently selected filters can be removed by clicking the 'Clear Filters' button.

For further assistance, contact us.