Hansard is the official record of the proceedings of the Parliament and includes transcripts of parliamentary proceedings and debates. It is a verified and accurate record, repetitions and redundancies may be omitted and obvious mistakes corrected.
New South Wales Hansard commenced on 28 October 1879 with the reporting of the Legislative Council. Online access to Hansard is available from 1880 to today. Prior to 1880, the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper published reports of debates.
1880–
Hansard Parliament of New South Wales
The Parliament of New South Wales website provides search functionality and indexes to access Hansard from 1880 to present. Sydney Morning Herald newspaper reports of debates are also available for the First Legislative Council from 1824 to 1855. Reports of debates from 1856 until 1879 are not available through the Parliament website, use printed resources listed below or search the Sydney Morning Herald through Trove.
1824-1855
First Legislative Council archive
Includes Sydney Morning Herald newspaper reports of debates, tabled papers and documents relating to the administration of the First Council indexed by document type and date.
1880–
Hansard by Date
1880-2010
Hansard subject index
Digitised copies of the Hansard printed index are included in the Comprehensive index to all parliamentary documents. For later dates use the Advanced Search on the Parliament of New South Wales website.
1991 (Sept)–
Hansard by member
Access all speeches made by members in Hansard, including questions and answers. Deferred answers are also included from May 2016 onwards.
2015 (May)–
Hansard by bill
Access bill speeches, debates and other bill references in Hansard for the current parliament
It is recommended to access Hansard online instead of using printed material.
1973-2011
New South Wales. Parliament. Parliamentary debates (Hansard)
Bound volumes of debates of both Legislative Council and Legislative Assembly. State Library Victoria's subscription ceased in December 2011.
1879-1973
New South Wales. Parliament. Parliamentary debates
Use open access microfilm for dates between 1879/80 and 1900, pre-order required for use after 6 pm; 1901-1972 held offsite, contact Library to arrange delivery.
1856-1880
No Hansard existed. Use reports of Parliament in the Sydney morning herald.
1879-2011
No separate index. Use indexes in individual bound volumes.
1856-1880
New South Wales Parliamentary debates (Sydney morning herald) : index in two volumes.
1879-1900
New South Wales. Parliament. Parliamentary debates
1856-1880
Use microfilm of Sydney morning herald in conjunction with index noted above.
The Parliament of New South Wales has a public API which provides open access to Hansard-related information for the period September 1991 to present.
Learn more about the Hansard API.
