Section 141: Public access to and involvement in Parliament

Parliament must—

    (a) facilitate public involvement in its legislative and other processes and in the processes

of its committees;

    (b) ensure that interested parties are consulted about Bills being considered by Parliament,

unless such consultation is inappropriate or impracticable; and

    (c) conduct its business in a transparent manner and hold its sittings, and those of its

committees, in public, though measures may be taken—

          (i) to preserve order in parliamentary proceedings;

          (ii) to regulate public access, including access of the media, to Parliament and its

committees;

          (iii) to exclude the public, including the media, from sittings of committees; and

          (iv) to provide for the searching of persons and, where appropriate, the refusal of

entry to Parliament or the removal of any person from Parliament;

but those measures must be fair, reasonable and justifiable in a democratic society

based on openness, justice, human dignity, equality and freedom.