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House of Representatives                                Ch 17                                                 p 588

At government initiative

Many reports and other documents, not required by statute to be presented, are considered by the Government important enough to present to the House for the information of Members. In many cases it is an exercise in the accountability of the Executive to the Parliament. For example, the annual reports of Public Service departments were presented in this way before there was a statutory requirement to do so. In other cases it is an acknowledgment of the fundamental right of access of Members to information concerning government policy or activity, and within this framework documents presented to the House cover a virtually unlimited range of subject matters. They include reports of royal commissions, treaties, ¹ agreements and exchanges of notes with foreign countries, reports of committees of inquiry established by the Government, and ministerial statements. These documents are usually presented by Ministers, although in some cases they are forwarded to the Clerk for recording in the Votes and Proceedings as documents deemed to have been presented ( see below ).

In the past such documents were presented nominally ‘by command of the Governor-General’, ² and referred to as command papers. This term in relation to documents presented to the Australian Parliament did not have the same significance as the term used in the United Kingdom Parliament where such documents are printed as a separate Command Paper series. The term in Australia was purely technical, referring to the manner of presentation, and is no longer current usage.

New arrangements for treaties were announced in May 1996: the Government undertook to table treaties at least 15 sitting days before taking binding action; treaties were to be tabled with a national interest analysis, to facilitate community and parliamentary scrutiny; and a Joint Standing Committee on Treaties was created to consider tabled treaties and related matters. H.R. Deb. (2.5.96) 231-5.

Former S.O. 319. Documents were recorded in the Votes and Proceedings as being presented by command until 1983.