[LINK] e-Tabling Documents for Australian Parliament

[Roger Clarke]

At 9:24 +1000 29/7/12, Tom Worthington wrote:
>This is to propose that the Australian Parliament change its procedures
>to allow the tabling of electronic, rather than paper, documents ...

Generally, great.

However, it's vital to cater for a (perhaps lengthy) transition period.

Agencies must retain the obligation to make hard-copy available on 
request - in order to avoid disadvantaging people who, for various 
reasons, do not have convenient access to the electronic version.

They can of course be encouraged to enable print-on-demand, but they 
need to have the obligation to [themselves use the print-on-demand 
facility to] deliver hard-copy by snail-mail to those who request 
such copies.

_____________________________________________

At 9:24 +1000 29/7/12, Tom Worthington wrote:
>This is to propose that the Australian Parliament change its procedures
>to allow the tabling of electronic, rather than paper, documents. This
>will reduce cost and resource use, as well as improve the readability of
>the documents.
>
>Currently the Parliament forces a wasteful duplication on agencies,
>which are required to prepare documents on paper for tabling, along with
>an electronic version for the public after tabling. Most of the paper
>copies printed are probably never opened, let alone read. Also, because
>the Parliament requires the electronic version to closely match the
>paper edition, the design of the electronic version cannot be optimized
>for on-line viewing.
>
>I suggest the priority be reversed, with the agencies producing an
>electronic document, which is also suitable for printing. This will
>allow the design to be optimised for on-line viewing. The printed
>document will not look as well laid out as one specifically designed for
>print, but will be usable.
>
>Converting to electronic tabling would require a few small changes to
>the wording of procedures. The "Guidelines for the Presentation of
>Documents to the Parliament" could be changed slightly to remove mention
>of "printing":
>
>      "... Documents should be printed created in accordance with
>standards prepared by the Joint Publications Committee ..."
>http://www.dpmc.gov.au/guidelines/docs/guidelines_gov_docs.pdf
>
>The Parliamentary Papers Series (PPS) procedures require 100 copies of
>documents to be delivered to a location in Canberra for distribution.
>These complex and expensive procedures could be replaced with a simpler
>procedure, where one electronic copy of the document is delivered to
>parliament and distributed via the parliamentary web site.
>http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Chamber_documents/Tabled_Papers/Advice_for_recipients
>
>
>--
>Tom Worthington FACS CP, TomW Communications Pty Ltd. t: 0419496150
>PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617, Australia  http://www.tomw.net.au
>Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards
>Legislation
>
>Adjunct Lecturer, Research School of Computer Science,
>Australian National University http://cs.anu.edu.au/courses/COMP7310/
>_______________________________________________
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-- 
Roger Clarke                                 http://www.rogerclarke.com/

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Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Law               University of NSW
Visiting Professor in Computer Science    Australian National University