Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2021L01869:reg:4:p49
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2021L01869
Segment Type: reg
Provision Reference: reg 4 (pt 49/63)
Character Range: 479265–482080

and a resultant growth in their workload. To redress the situation, the number of senators was raised to 60 in 1948 and, thereupon, the number of members to 121, thus giving a total number of parliamentarians of 181.55 This was in excess of the projected total number of 168 that it was originally thought that the provisional building would ever need to accommodate in its 50-year history. As it was, additional space was required to cater for the expansion of other activities associated with Parliament, notably the work of the Press Gallery. The electronic media, in particular, grew following the commencement in July 1946 of direct radio coverage of Question Time in Parliament by the ABC.56 By April 1948, Chifley admitted that the press was 'very unhappily' accommodated in Parliament House.57

  With much of the building already in the hands of the executive and no plans to erect a permanent building, there was now no choice but to expand the existing structure. The solution adopted was to add a third storey to each of the 1943 wings and extend them with three-storey right-angle returns so that they joined each end of the dining–recreation block. As the wings had never been intended to support upper floors, their walls had to be thickened and strengthened to bear the extra load. The plans for the extensions were drawn by DG Edward, an architect in the Department of Works. On 14 July 1948, a contract was let for the construction work to the builders, John Grant and Sons of Martin Place, Sydney, with a finishing date of 31 March 1949; the plasterwork was later undertaken by Hook Brothers of Harrington Street, Sydney. A notable feature of the additions was that the contractors were constrained to use Australian timber, in this case Queensland maple, for all joinery and timber panelling.58

    53      Tanner and Associates, 'Provisional Parliament House Canberra: The Conservation Plan', pp. 14-5 to 14-8; ms minute, Christie, 'Renovation and Maintenance of External Woodwork of Parliament House', 7 March 1949; Joint Standing Committee on the New Parliament House, 'Report on the Future Use of the Provisional Parliament House', May 1984, section 2.15; minute, Chairman, Joint House Committee, to N. Lemmon, Minister for Works and Housing, 22 June 1949, CRS A6728/1, item 191/6.
    54      HC Barnard and JB Chifley, in Hansard [HReps], 10 February 1943, CRS A461, item B4-1-10; Harold Holt and Chifley, in Hansard [HReps], 5 April 1946, CRS A461/7, item A4/1/10; Canberra Times, 5 April 1946.
    55      Geoffrey Sawer, The Australian Constitution, Canberra, AGPS, 1975, pp. 44–45; Souter, Acts of Parliament, pp. 395–96.
    56      Dick, Parliament House Canberra Golden Jubilee, p. 32.
    57      Chifley, in Hansard [HReps], CRS A461/7, item A4/1/10.
    58      'Extract from