Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2021L01868:reg:4:p50
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2021L01868
Segment Type: reg
Provision Reference: reg 4 (pt 50/63)
Character Range: 481159–483980

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 Minutes of the 68th Meeting [of the NCPDC]', 21–22 June 1948, CRS A3032/1, item PC46/1; documents relating to third storey in CRS A976/64, item 52/0239 part 1; Souter, Acts of Parliament, p. 397; Tanner and Associates, 'Provisional
  Owing to various problems, work on the third storey dragged on for a long time after the date of completion initially stipulated for it, and the cost blew out from the original budget estimate of £45,000 to just over
  £140,000. When complete, however, the extensions provided 50 additional offices, two attendants' boxes and four toilets, and included extra space for the Press Gallery on the upper floor next to the Chambers. At the same time, seating accommodation in the Representatives and Senate Chambers was increased to provide respectively for up to 124 members and 60 senators. Substantial additions and improvements were also made to the facilities for parliamentarians and press representatives in the dining–recreational block at the rear of the original building, the old billiard room being converted into a dining area. Welcome and necessary as these changes were, they still did not provide the majority of parliamentarians with their own offices.59

  Changes of the 1950s and 1960s

  With the advent of the 1950s, the pressure for accommodation space and other difficulties continued to beset Provisional Parliament House. During 1950, the loggias on the northern side of each garden court were filled in to create more office space while, on the southern side of the courtyards, the verandahs to the dining–recreation block were closed in with sliding glass windows. In January of that year, too, an old problem in the form of leaks from the roof returned to bedevil the building. After heavy rains during the month, leaks were discovered in no fewer than 16 rooms, most of them in the House of Representatives wing. The leaks were soon traced to the faulty installation of flashing and, after much to-ing and fro-ing, the problem was fixed in April, but only temporarily. Further troubles with the roof led in 1952 to the construction of a metal roof over the Library, a change that had the unfortunate side-effect of covering the clerestory windows and thus blocking off the natural light that used to enter through them. Fears of water penetrating the building by another means had also led to the periodic painting of the exterior walls to prevent moisture seeping through the external cement rendering. By financial year 1950–51, this had become such a burden