Tuesday 23 June 2009
Legislative Council
Estimates Committee B  (David Bartlett)

Output group 1
Parliamentary Reporting Service 
1.1 Production and printing of parliamentary reports -

CHAIR - I invite Mr Finch to start off in this area.

Mr FINCH - At last we see some forward Estimates on the rise.  Some $923 000 this year to $1.04 million in 2012-13.  It would not be otherwise of course.  Without Hansard we would perish.  There is a potential savings with new technology.  Can we outline what is being looked at for Hansard?

Mr PEARCE - Madam Chair, it is the voice technology recognition technology.  I understand that Jenny Batchler is continuing to look at.  There is still some way to go with that, Mr Finch.  That is the area we are aware of.  Jenny is not here this afternoon.  I assume she will pursue looking at those areas but principally that is the main focus of her attention at the present time.

Mr FINCH - As I indicated earlier we could not operate without Hansard.  It works very well for us.  This is the digital age of video recordings and the technology to access videoed speeches.  Without trying too hard to predict the future, can we get some idea of how Hansard might look in, say, 20 years from now?  What are the projections and what we might expect?

Mr MENADUE - If I could take that question on notice.  The Editor of Debates is not here.  It would be better if she considered some of these issues.  We will take that on notice, Mr Finch, and give you some idea of the long-term projections.

Mr FINCH - Thank you very much.