A good speaker is ‘seen and not heard’: Canberra hosts 26th CSPOC

A good speaker is ‘seen and not heard’: Canberra hosts 26th CSPOC

Speaker of the House Milton Dick says a great speaker is “seen and not heard” as Commonwealth presiding officers collect in Canberra for a global convention.

The twenty sixth Conference of Speakers and Presiding Officers of the Commonwealth (CSPOC) is underway at Australia’s Parliament House in Canberra.

The convention’s goal is to strengthen parliamentary establishments by bringing collectively Speakers and Presiding Officers from throughout the Commonwealth.

“The role is to ensure both sides have equal opportunity to express their views,” Mr Dick informed Sky News Australia.

“Australia has the opportunity to showcase how we’ve handled the pandemic but also to understand and learn from other jurisdictions about how they’ve dealt with remote parliament and online security.”

Mr Dick was joined by UK House of Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle who mentioned the function is crucial to “protecting parliament and democracy”.

“We believe in the democratic process. That’s what we’re all here for. Because in the end, we all suffer the same threats,” Mr Hoyle mentioned.