Despatch box

The despatch boxes in Australia's House of Representatives. The left box is used by the Government; the right box by the Opposition. The Government frontbench is visible behind the left despatch box.

A despatch box (alternatively dispatch box) is a wooden box used as a lectern from which frontbench members of Parliament deliver speeches to their parliamentary chamber.

The original purpose of the despatch box was for members to carry documents and other belongs with them into the chamber.^[1] In modern times, two ornate wooden despatch boxes are found in the Australian House of Representatives and the British House of Commons, generally with one box on the Government side and one on the Opposition side of the table that divides the opposing frontbenches. Whereas backbenchers in both Parliaments generally deliver addresses to the chamber while standing at their seat, frontbenchers (ministers and shadow ministers) deliver their addresses from their side's despatch box. For this reason, the expression "speaking from the despatch box" is often used to describe the performance of a member of parliament (even backbenchers) in addressing the chamber.

By tradition, the modern despatch boxes often contain the religious texts used for swearing in of new members of the respective chamber.

United Kingdom Parliament

The despatch boxes in the British House of Commons were gifts from New Zealand, presented after the House of Commons was rebuilt following World War II. They are modelled on the Australian boxes, which in turn were modelled as replicas of the despatch boxes that were destroyed in World War II.

The box on the Government side houses a number of holy books of various religions including a Bible and a Qur'an. The Opposition box contains a burnt Bible, dating back to the destruction of the Commons chamber by a German bomb on 10 May 1941 during the Second World War.^{[citation needed]} The Bible was resting on the centre table at the time the bomb detonated and was recovered largely intact.^{[citation needed]}

More recently, the Government despatch box is reported to have sustained serious (and potentially irreparable) damage at the hands of former Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Brown's habit of jabbing his marker pen at his papers has led to the surface of the box becoming covered in black pen marks.^[2] Churchill similarly damaged the Government despatch box in the House of Lords, during the time that chamber was used by the Commons during World War II, by bashing his fist against it when speaking while wearing a ring.

Australian Parliament

The despatch boxes in the Australian House of Representatives were gifts from King George V to mark the opening of the Old Parliament House in Canberra on 9 May 1927.^[1] They are made of rosewood, and have enamel and silver decorations. They are replicas of the despatch boxes found in the British House of Commons until those boxes were destroyed on 10 May 1941. Inside the lid of each box is an inscription signed by King George.

The Senate has two lecterns which serve a similar purpose, but which are only used by the Senate leaders of the Government and Opposition rather than by all frontbenchers. Other frontbenchers in the Senate address the chamber from their seating location in the first row of their side of the chamber.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} [1]
2. ^ Daily Telegraph article