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House of Representatives                                Ch 18                                                 p 689

Government responses to reports

Since 1978 Governments have followed a practice of responding formally to committee reports by way of a statement presented to the House(s). ¹ The original commitment was to respond within six months of the presentation of the report, but in 1983 this period was reduced to three months. ²

These procedures do not apply to reports by the Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit and the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Works, and to advisory reports on proposed legislation. Government responses are made to reports by the Joint Committee on Publications resulting from inquiries, and reports by the Procedure Committee, but not to reports by other committees concerned with ‘internal’ matters, such as the House Committee. If appropriate, the Speaker may also respond to a committee report, and both Presiding Officers may respond to reports by joint committees which relate to their shared responsibilities. ³

Speakers have followed the practice of presenting to the House at approximately six-monthly intervals a schedule listing government responses to House of Representatives and joint committee reports as well as responses outstanding. ⁴ Subsequently the Leader of the House presents a list of parliamentary committee reports showing the stage reached with the government response in each case. ⁵ This list does not constitute the formal response, nor does correspondence from a Minister directly to a committee chair. The Government’s response to a committee report is considered to have been formally made only when presented directly to the House(s).

H.R. Deb. (25.5.78) 2465-6.

S. Deb. (24.8.83) 141-2.

E.g. VP 1978-80/1237; VP 2002-04/1577.

E.g. VP 1993-95/2687; VP 1996-98/95; VP 1998-2001/1156.

E.g. VP 1993-95/1683; VP 1996-98/340; VP 1998-2001/1595.