Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)

Parliamentary Debates (Hansard) is the official name of the transcripts of debates in the New Zealand Parliament. New Zealand was one of the first countries to establish an independent team of Hansard reporters,^[1] 42 years before the British (Imperial) Parliament. An official record of debates has been kept continuously since 9 July 1867. Speeches made in the House of Representatives and the Legislative Council between 1867 and the commencement of Parliament in 1854 were compiled in 1885 from earlier newspaper reports, and this compilation also forms part of the New Zealand Hansard record.

The Hansard takes its name from Thomas Curson Hansard, who started publishing a daily record of proceedings in the British Parliament in the early 19th century.^[2]