What is Hansard?
"Hansard is the traditional name of the transcripts of Parliamentary debates in Britain and many Commonwealth countries. it is named after Thomas Curson Hansard (1776-1833), a London printer and publisher, who was the official printer to the Parliamentary at Westminster."
Hansard History in Vanuatu Parliament
Minutes of parliamentary proceedings used to be produced by the National Language Services. However in 2003, Parliament has established a Hansard division with only 4 staffs (2 Francophones and 2 Anglophones), among whom there were 2 editors and 2 reporters. currently, the number of Hansard staff has bee increased to 6, dealing with 3 official languages as required by the constitution.
Hansard Functions
Hansard is the record of the Parliamentary debates, speeches and questions asked in the Parliament of Vanuatu.
- Make notes (Manually) on discussions in the Chamber during the Parliament Sittings (Bislama, English, French)
- Edit and compile the minutes.
- Minutes and approved in Parliament during last Ordinary Sessions of Parliament year.
- Parliament Minutes are Documents called Summarized Proceedings which then becomes the legal Records of Proceedings (If required in court)
- Provide minutes of Parliamentary Committee meetings.
- Minutes books compiled and edited by the Hansard Officers are sold to other Parliaments around the world
- Books are also used by court as evidence or judgment of Parliamentary Case.
Minutes Process
Section 20 of the Standing Orders provides that:
"1. An official report, know as Hansard, of all debates and proceedings in Parliament must be prepared under the direction of the Clerk. The report must be as nearly as possible verbatim and must be published."
"2. A copy of the Hansard must be sent to each Member within 30 days after the conclusion of the session to which it relates."
Reporters transcribe audios in French, English and sometimes Bislama that will be edited and compiled by Editors. Editors are given not more 20 days to compile and edit all transcripts which will be sent to MPs that have participated in discussion for confirmations within 7 days using the Legislation Management Information System. After the confirmation process and the final amendments made, the transcripts are the true record of parliamentary proceedings before the 30th day after the Parliament Session lapse.
Languages
The three official languages are outlines in Chapter 3 of the constitution of the republic of Vanuatu.
" (1) the national languages of the Republic of Vanuatu is Bislama. The official languages are Bislama, English and French."
"(2) the Republic of Vanuatu shall protect the different local languages wish are part of the national heritage, and may declare one of them as a national languages."
Live broadcast
Live audio and video broadcasts of Parliamentary proceedings are available by clicking on the Live Stream located in the top main menu on the Parliament’s web page. The video broadcast can only view using certain browsers such as Firefox, Google Chrome and others. But it can't be view via Internet Explorer.
Please note that this service is only available when the Parliament is in session.
Click here during Parliament sittings to watch debate live in the Chamber.
Broadcast on Demand
Broadcast on Demand is available through accessing the electronic Record of Proceedings and Facebook livestream.
Broadcast on demand allow users to be able to watch a video replay of the previous proceedings of Parliament.
The on-demand broadcast become available at the times the Record of Proceedings is published on the internet throughout a sitting day.
To view previous online Broadcast on Demand, please click here.
Earlier hard copies of Hansard Reports are available in the Parliament Library.
