CDI Professional Development Workshop for Melanesian
National & Provincial Parliamentary Staff
In partnership with the Parliamentary Service of the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea, CDI continued its support for the National Parliament and other legislatures in Melanesia by conducting the second in its annual series of professional skills development courses for parliamentary officers from the region. The course was held from 9-12 June 2009 at Parliament House in Port Moresby. Over 50 staff from the PNG Parliamentary Service, Provincial Assemblies and the parliaments of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville and Solomon Islands participated in the four day course.
CDI Deputy Director, Mr Quinton Clements, and Mr Simon Ila, Deputy Clerk of the National Parliament, convened the course. They were joined by a team of facilitators including:
- Mr Michael Ries, Deputy Clerk, Parliament of Queensland;
- Mr Les Gonye, Clerk Assistant Committees, Legislative Assembly, Parliament of New South Wales;
- Ms Rachel Simpson, Committee Manager, Legislative Council, Parliament of New South Wales;
- Mr Simon Johnston, Legislative Council, Parliament of New South Wales; and
- Mr Derk Swieringa, Australian Business Volunteers.
The course was designed to enable parliamentary officials from the different legislatures throughout the region to learn about all aspects of parliamentary work, further develop their professional skills and thereby raise the standards of service they provide to Members of Parliament.
The course program focused on developing staff capacity in the following core areas of parliamentary work:
- Research and analysis;
- Writing;
- Planning and budgeting; and
- Understanding parliamentary practice.
The course tested participants’ knowledge and understanding of the core functions of Parliament, the different roles MPs play, and the various ways parliamentary staff support MPs. Participants examined the basic principles of the Westminster model of parliamentary democracy and the concept of parliamentary privilege. Case studies from PNG were used to illustrate how privilege works in practice.
A large part of the course was devoted to writing skills and to planning, preparing a budget and monitoring expenditure. These were practical sessions led by Mr Swieringa which involved participants planning and preparing budgets for several hypothetical committee inquiries. During the sessions on writing skills, participants examined the elements of plain language writing and then completed a number of practical exercises including the process of committee report writing.
The final sessions were focused on preparing for and running a public hearing. Mr Lawrence Daveona, Director of the PNG National Parliament Committees Secretariat, led the participants through the planning and preparation for a mock public hearing. The topic chosen was the recently announced inquiry by a Special Parliamentary Committee into foreign owned and operated business enterprises in Papua New Guinea. Participants divided into three groups – Committee Members, witnesses, and Secretariat. Each group prepared for its part in the role play exercise. What followed was a very successful role play in which a number of useful administrative and procedural issues arose to challenge the participants.
Overall, participants were involved in a very practically oriented and highly interactive program that challenged them and stimulated their interest in improving their professional skills. The evaluation feedback has been overwhelmingly positive and strongly suggests that this type of course that addresses specific skills development is greatly needed in the region at both the national and provincial levels. There were numerous requests to continue to offer this course on an annual basis.
This course is part of an ongoing series of CDI activities for Members and parliamentary staff of the 8th National Parliament of Papua New Guinea that began with the induction program in August 2007.
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