The Hansard search includes the records of debates of the Legislative Council and Legislative Assembly from 1870 to the present day. There are different ways to search Hansard depending on what you are looking for.
How to search Hansard
Frequently asked questions
How to find committee transcripts
When is Hansard available?
Support
How to search Hansard
Hansard search
Use keyword search for general words or phrases. Use quotation marks to search for an exact phrase.
Use filters to refine your search.
- Parliament: select the four-year term of Parliament
- House: Legislative Council or Legislative Assembly
- Date range
- Member: Search by the member who spoke on a particular topic. Multiple members may be selected by pressing SHIFT when selecting a member from the dropdown list
- Bill: Find all search results on a particular bill
- Proceeding: Find all search results on a parliamentary proceeding, e.g. second reading, grievance, petition. Multiple proceedings may be selected by pressing SHIFT when selecting a proceeding from the dropdown list
Search results
The default display order for search results is newest to oldest.
Results can be further refined by selecting the metadata in the left-hand side of the screen.
- Electorate
- House
- Members
- Portfolio
- Proceeding
- Subproceeding
- Parliament.
Clicking ‘Download PDF’ in the top right-hand corner will download a print-ready version of the proceeding.
Clicking 'Daily PDF' will download the full day Hansard currently available.
Note, this document is generated from the online version which can be subject to further correction. See Hansard Publication below.
Refined Hansard search (2000-2024)
Use keyword search for general words or phrases. Use quotation marks to search for an exact phrase.
Use filters to refine your search.
- Parliament: select the four-year term of Parliament (35th to 41st Parliaments only)
- House: Legislative Council or Legislative Assembly. You can also search for Assembly legislation committees or Assembly estimates.
- Member: Search by the member who spoke on a particular topic. Multiple members may be selected.
- Bill: Find all search results on a particular bill
- Committees: Search for references to standing committees in Parliament.
- Dates: Select a custom date search by
- Proceeding: Find all search results on a parliamentary proceeding, e.g. second reading, grievance, petition.
- Page no.: Search for a particular page in the final Hansard.
- Results per page: the default is 100
- Sort order: Select the order in which you want your results displayed
Search results
Click on the date on the left side to bring up the PDF of that proceeding.
Click on the PDF symbol on the right to access the Hansard of the entire day.
Results can be further refined by adding more filters to the advanced search on the results page.
Hansard search
Hansards between 1870 to 2000 have been scanned from the printed bound volumes and search results may not always be reliable.
Use keyword search for general words or phrases. Use quotation marks to search for an exact phrase.
Use filters to refine your search.
- Parliament: select the four-year term of Parliament
- House: Legislative Council or Legislative Assembly
- Date range
Note: Filters for bills, proceedings and members will not work for Hansards prior to 2025.
Select ‘Apply filter’ to run your search.
Search results
The default display order for search results is newest to oldest.
The Hansard indexes provide information about member speeches and subjects, and can be used to assist your search. Find the indexes here: Hansard Indexes.
Frequently asked questions
I would like to find all the speeches made by a particular member
You can find all of a current member’s speeches in their member’s page on the Parliament website. Navigate to Current Members and search or browse for the member.
To search for speeches by former members, use the Refined Hansard search (2000-2024), select the Member filter, and press Search.
I would like to read what was said on a bill
The Bills section of the public website displays a history on each bill page, a copy of the bill, the explanatory memorandum and a link to second reading speeches.
To find further debates in the Hansard search, select the relevant bill from the dropdown list and select Search.
I would like to find the broadcast for a particular speech
Videos of parliamentary debates from April 2021 are available on our Video Archives.
How to find committee transcripts
Committee transcripts are published in the committees section of the public website, for both current and past committees.
When is Hansard available?
Hansard is published progressively throughout the sitting day, with the full version generally appearing online within three hours of the house rising. This is a draft version, with the final, corrected Hansard appearing two to three days after the sitting.
Finalised Hansard is available:
- for Tuesday by 5:00 pm Friday
- for Wednesday by 5:00 pm Monday following a sitting week
- for Thursday by 1:00 pm Tuesday following a sitting week.
Please note: Public holidays may result in delays.
Although we encourage the use of the Hansard record, the draft should not be quoted as it may be subject to further correction. Any changes made to the draft Hansard will be automatically reflected online.
Support
For assistance with Hansard or Broadcast, please reach out to the Reporting Services team on hansard@parliament.wa.gov.au
For assistance with accessing and using parliamentary systems or using the public website, please reach out to itservicedesk@parliament.wa.gov.au or 08 9222 7200.