New Zealand Parliamentary Publications
Currently Published Material
Print copies of New Zealand parliamentary publications are kept in the Law Library. The Macmillan Brown Library also has a limited collection. Recent material is often available electronically. This page outlines the major categories of New Zealand parliamentary publications and their location.
Order Paper
Produced each day the House sits. It is the agenda for the day showing
the
business to be transacted.
current issue full text
May
1994 - present. Held in Law Library KH 311 .N532o
Parliamentary Bulletin
This is published each week when the House is sitting and it records the progress of bills, presentation of papers and petitions, and the business scheduled for select committees. Prior to 1988 this information was recorded in the Journals.
Selected current
content on Parliamentary website
1988 - present. Held Law Library KH 318.5 .P252. Latest issues
on High Demand.
Appendices to the Journals of the House of Representatives (AJHR)
Each year a number of papers are tabled in the House of Representatives. These include reports of Government Departments and certain statutory bodies, a selection of international agreements and conventions involving New Zealand, Government financial statements, reports of commissions and Royal Commissions and reports of Parliamentary Select Committees.
Collectively these papers are known as 'Parliamentary papers' or as the Appendices to the Journals of the House of Representatives. The title is frequently abbreviated to AJHR and until 2000 these were bound trienially by parliament. Bound volumes of the AJHR from 2000 onwards consist of solely of select committee reports. All other papers previously published under this title are now bound annually under the title Parliamentary Papers.
Each Parliamentary Paper is assigned a 'shoulder number' which is printed on the top right-hand corner of each leaf, eg. A9, B13, B13A etc. The same number is generally assigned to the same paper each year, thus the Budget is always B6. The last major reorganisation of numbers was in 1973 and since then only minor changes necessitated by new departments or changes of name have occurred. The Select Committee Reports are the exception, with the shoulder number changing from I to J in 2006. Many government departments now include annual reports on their web-sites. Here is a list of AJHR and parliamentary papers content by corporate author.
AJHR Print copies (1858 - present) are held in the Law Library at KH 304 .N532a, with unbound issues at the service desk.
Select
Committee Reports Sept. 2000 - fulltext
Indexes
Bound volumes of the Appendices have included annual indexes since 1934/35;
however these are of varying reliability and consistency. Consolidated
indexes have been published covering the years 1854-1913, 1914-1922,
1923-1929, 1939-1953 and 1954-1963 and are shelved along with the bound
volumes.
Parliamentary Papers
Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)
The official report of parliamentary debates, Hansard gives a verbatim report, edited to remove repetitions and redundancies. All speeches made are included in Hansard, but proceedings without debates are not recorded.
Each volume has its own index, which is cumulated by an amalgamated index covering the entire session. Index entries are listed under names of MPs, and broad categories such as Bills, Petitions and Oral Questions. There is no longer a subject index to Hansard.
1854
- present (print) are held in the Law Library.
2003 - present (fulltext).
N.B. 1854-66 compiled from newspaper reports, journals,
etc. because no official record was kept.
Vol. 1 (1867) -vol. 293 (1950) contain debates of both House of
Representatives and Legislative Council.
Parliamentary Questions
Written Questions
Written questions and replies were published separately in a supplement
to the Hansard until 2002 and are available
in the Law Library. They are now available full text on the Web and you can Search
Questions for Written Answer.
Oral Questions
Oral questions are reported in the Hansard. Questions are available fulltext with uncorrected transcripts from 2002 onwards.
Legislation
Bills (proposed legislation), Acts or statutes (adopted legislation) and Statutory Regulations are available in the Law Library. The collection includes current and repealed legislation. There are also electronic links to:
Current Bills
Current Acts
Table of New
Zealand Acts & Ordinances & Statutory Regulations
Brookers legislation with case law
New Zealand Gazette
A weekly publication which contains official government notices eg new regulations, decrees and proclamations. Early Gazettes included electoral rolls. The Gazette's Professional Lists list individuals in registered professions such as doctors, engineers, public valuers and marriage celebrants. The Gazette has an annual index bound in with the first volume for each year.
1841-2006 fulltext (link via Internet Explorer on campus only)
Current issues. Held Law Library KH 301 .N532
Journals of the House of Representatives of New Zealand
The "minutes" of Parliament. The Journals are a daily summary of the proceedings of Parliament without the debates (see Hansard). The Journals also include very useful schedules which list bills and their progress through the parliamentary process, accounts and papers tabled, the composition and business of select committees, and petitions presented. This information is also available in the Parliamentary Bulletin .
Journals of the House of Representatives of New Zealand
1858 -
Held in the Law Library at KH 304 .N532. Latest issues held at the service desk.
Notes on Parliamentary Law and Procedure
Held in Law Library KH 310 .N911
Material Not Currently Published
Votes and Proceedings of the House of Representatives 1854-1855. Became the Journals of the House of Representatives of New Zealand.
Votes and proceedings of the Legislative Council 1854-1856, 1858
Journals of the Legislative Council of New Zealand 1860-1866
Journals and appendix to the journals of the Legislative Council of New Zealand 1867-1914
Journals of the Legislative Council of the Dominion of New Zealand 1915-1943, 1945-1950
*N.B There were no sessions of Parliament in 1857
and 1859
General index to The Journals of the Legislative Council
and the House of Representatives of New Zealand, 1918 to 1923
Held Macmillan Brown Library JQ 5851 .G326