Parliament on the Net

We'll be able to see Parliament live online from July, according to this news release from the Office of the Clerk today.

Good stuff! Another step on the way to a more transparent democracy. The next thing we need is broadcasting of select committee hearings...

Comments

[hugh]

Will there be a 10-second delay to censor profanity?

[peter mck]

Question - will the Labour Ministers finally start to answer questions

Answer - I doubt it - they are too arrogant to be accountable to the people.

[Jim D]

This is great - perhaps the public will finally be able to see the BS that Labour talk during question time.

[sean14]

One lives in eternal hope that Labour Ministers will actually start to answer questions. For that to happen though we'll need a Speaker who insists that Ministers actually answer the question instead of simply addressing it.

To be fair though, do those of us that lean to the right seriously expect National to do any better the next time they occupy the treasury benches? I don't recall the standard being any higher in the 90s.

Ministers who actually answered questions and put their hand up when they made a mistake and said "yes, that's my fault" would win a lot of respect from the electorate at large in my opinion, and would also restore a lot of faith in our democratic processes. I don't really expect that to happen though, whoever the government is. It's just human nature to take the easy path, be a smart-arse, and enjoy annoying the hell out of the opposition because you know you can get away with spouting meaningless drivel.

[Mainly Politics]

I imagine the 'parliament with pictures' version will be as popular as the radio broadcasts... That said, it's good to see parliament taking steps to make its proceedings more accessible.

[tim barclay]

They should take up a spare channel on sky and have a complete broadcast and for us junkies they can also broadcast some feeds fro other pariiaments including the UK and Australia and some debates from the US etc.