Hansard
What is 'Hansard'?
A full, substantially verbatim report of parliamentary debates and speeches made by members of the houses of Parliament.
LexisNexis Concise Australian Legal Dictionary (6th ed, 2020) 'hansard'.
Hansard is a daily transcript of all parliamentary proceedings. They are published shortly after the chamber or committee proceedings have concluded. While generally not a verbatim report of what has been said in Parliament, it is an accurate representation of speeches and statements that have been made by the relevant Minister in parliament outlining the policy underlying a proposed law (a Bill) during the second reading.
“The transcript is edited to remove repetition and grammatical errors but not to change the meaning.”
Parliamentary Education Office (16 May, 2022) 'hansard'.
Second Reading Speeches
Hansard is where you will find second reading speeches for Bills and discussion around the progress of Bills.
When a Bill progresses to the second reading stage, the member responsible for introducing the Bill will make a second reading speech. This sets out the purpose and explanation of the Bill. The speech will usually start with the phrase “that this Bill be now read a second time” and usually concludes with the phrase “I commend the Bill to the house”.
Second reading speeches are particularly useful in determining the historical intent of new and amending legislation. As an aid to statutory interpretation, second reading speeches may be used to discern the underlying purpose or object of a statute.
Hansard online
Hansard is available on the respective Parliamentary websites. Historical online availability of Hansard for each jurisdiction will vary.
- Commonwealth of Australia
- Australian Capital Territory
- New South Wales
- Northern Territory
- Queensland
- South Australia
- Tasmania
- Victoria
- Western Australia
Second reading speeches on Lawlex
Navigating Hansard sites for some jurisdictions can be difficult. Lawlex provides links to second reading speeches for the initiating house for Acts from the mid-1990s onwards.
Use Researching Acts in Lawlex to locate the Core Document Homepage for the Act. Under the Related links heading, there will usually be a link to the initiating house 2nd reading speech.
UK Hansard (Parliamentary Debates)
House of Commons and House of Lords Parliamentary Debates are available on the UK Parliamentary Archives website.