In reply to Hon. IAN GILFILLAN (22 July) and answered by letter on 22 October.
  The Hon. R.I. LUCAS: The Minister for Information Ser-vices has provided the following information:
 1. Will members' access to information through MAPICS be extended to include access to newspaper databases, whether or not on the Internet?
 Provision of access to a selected range of such services will be confirmed after further consultation with stake-hold-ers and Mem-bers.
 2. If access is to be offered, on what basis will it be avail-able?
 Access to such a facility will be made available via the Parlia-mentary Web Information Service, or Parlia-men-tary Intranet, to be provided by MAPICS. This would become available once the Parliament House network is commis-sioned in early 1999, and would be offered via a menu facility as part of a range of information services, which will also include Hansard dailies and other Parliamentary papers.
 3. Will each member require separate subscriptions to Presscom or the Fairfax archive, or will MAPICS sub-scribe for the benefit of all MPs?
 MAPICS will subscribe to the selected on-line services on behalf of Members and their staff, and other users of the services within Parliament House.