President of Tynwald Laurence Skelly will represent the Isle of Man at the 26th Conference of Speakers and Presiding Officers of the Commonwealth (CSPOC) hosted by the Australian Parliament in Canberra, Australia.

Mr Skelly, who will be accompanied by Clerk of Tynwald Jonathan King, will join delegates from 43 Commonwealth countries for the conference being held from January 3 to 6.

The conference, which ‘aims to foster impartiality and fairness on the part of Speakers and Presiding Officers, promote understanding of parliamentary democracy, and develop parliamentary institutions’, will include a range of addresses including ‘How have parliaments adapted to the pandemic, what issues arose from the adaptations and which of these adaptations may become permanent’ by Om Birla, Speaker of the Lok Sabah, India.

All related costs will be published on the Tynwald website in due course.