 
Welcome to About the House.
10 delegates from parliaments
around the world recently came
to Canberra to learn more
about parliamentary practice
and procedure.
The Inter-Parliamentary
Study Program
was an opportunity for staff
from parliaments in Asia,
Africa, Europe, and
Pacific to come together
to focus on how
parliaments function.
Delegates had the opportunity
to share their experiences
of their own
parliamentary systems,
and enjoy an in-depth study of
the Australian parliamentary
framework.
Jeanette Emberson is the
Deputy Secretary General
of the parliament of Fiji.
She said that having a
new parliament made up
almost entirely
first time members
was a challenge
for communicating
procedures in the chamber.
I could say maybe
just two or three
MPs have been MPs in
the previous parliament.
Otherwise, the rest of
the 47 are completely new.
There's this difficulty
where they possibly
have difficulty in interpreting
the standing orders.
And this is an area
that the secretariat
feels is an area that maybe
we could improve on back home.
I see in the
Australian parliament,
you have the practice,
House of Reps Practice,
but I have also
heard that you've
developed this over a
period of about 83 years.
So I think that'll
take time for Fiji
to develop something
in that similar nature.
But however, I've seen another
useful document which you also
have for your members, and
that's the Guide to Procedures.
The 2016 program also hosted
the first delegate from Japan
since 2004.
Kazuhiro Mizutani is the
chief of the Parliamentarians
Diplomacy Assistant's
Office at the Japanese House
of Representatives.
He said that the
opportunity to compare
how different
parliaments operate
with a diverse range
of participants
was extremely valuable.
The Australian parliamentary
system works pretty well.
And of course, we
don't introduce
directly this
system-- even if we
don't do that, we have got
many things as a reference
to improve our systems or
practice or procedure things
and logistics all of them.
So I have long been studying
the parliamentary system
in foreign countries.
But this program,
again, gives me
another international
perspective
for having another idea
or way of thinking.
To find out more about the
Inter-parliamentary Study
Program, and how the
parliament of Australia
connects with other
parliaments, visit aph.gov.au.
 
