MUSSE

Presiding Officer Alex Fergusson outlines the history of the Scottish Parliament

The University’s School of Social and Political Sciences (SSPS) recently hosted key members of the first-ever Scottish parliamentary delegation to visit Australia at a roundtable discussion.

The visit marks the 10th anniversary of the Scottish Parliament and members were keen to share their experiences with students and academics from SSPS and to explore some of the issues that concern both countries.

The delegation was led by the Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament, Mr Alex Fergusson MSP (the equivalent of the Australian Parliament Speaker).
The other members of the delegation were Ted Brocklebank MSP, Ross Finnie MSP, Rhoda Grant MSP, and Sandra White MSP.

University academics quizzed the parliamentary delegation about everything from their Gaelic language and domestic violence prevention policies through to the place of the Scottish Diaspora in today’s Scotland – an issue close to the heart of staff member Derek McDougall, who asked the panel what they were doing to develop relations with the Scottish Diaspora.

Established under the Scotland Act in 1999, an act of the Westminster Parliament, the Scottish Parliament has legislative power over almost all domestic issues. Scotland always has had its own separate legal and education systems, but now the Parliament impacts on Scottish people’s daily lives.

The Scottish Parliament was founded on four principles – accountability, equal opportunity, accessibility and the sharing of power, and the Parliament takes this every seriously, creating an innovative engagement program that includes events such as their ‘festival of politics’ which runs concurrently with the Edinburgh Festivals and takes in lectures, song, debate, theatre and has seen over 4000 people visit the Parliament for the event each year.

In its 10 years of operation, over 2.4 million visitors – more that half the population, and 80 000 school children have come through the Parliament’s doors, and engagement with modern technology means that online petitions system means any member of the community can petition the parliament about anything, with over 1200 petitions received so far.