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House of Representatives                                Ch 10                                                 p 341

Preparation of bills—the extra-parliamentary process

Government bills usually stem either from a Cabinet instruction that legislation is required (that is, Cabinet is the initiator) or from a Minister with the advice of, or on behalf of, his or her department seeking (by means of a Cabinet submission) approval of Cabinet. The pre-legislative procedure in the normal routine, ¹ regardless of the source of the legislative proposal, is that within five working days of Cabinet approval for the legislation being received by the sponsoring department, or within 10 working days if Cabinet has required major changes to be made to the original proposals, final drafting instructions must be lodged with the Office of Parliamentary Counsel ² by the sponsoring department. Parliamentary Counsel drafts the bill and arranges for its printing. ³

A copy of the draft bill is provided to the sponsoring department for its clearance, in consultation with other interested departments and instrumentalities, and the Minister’s approval. During these processes government party committees may be consulted. The procedures for such consultation vary, depending on the party or parties in government. When a proposed bill is finally settled, Parliamentary Counsel orders the printing of sufficient copies of the bill in the form used for presentation to Parliament and arranges for their delivery under embargo to staff of the House or the Senate. On occasion, when there has been insufficient time for a bill to be printed, Parliamentary Counsel has faxed a copy of the bill to the House, where photocopies have been made for the Minister to present and for circulation to Members. ⁴

The Government’s Legislation handbook states that draft bills and all associated material are confidential to the Government and may not be made public before their introduction to the Parliament, unless disclosure is authorised by Cabinet or the Prime Minister. ⁵ Occasionally the Government may publish a draft bill and explanatory memorandum as an ‘exposure draft’ prior to its introduction to the Parliament. ⁶

In the case of emergency or urgent legislation the normal steps in the extra-parliamentary legislative process may not be observed. For further information on the pre-legislative process see Legislation handbook , Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Canberra, 2000.

The Office of Parliamentary Counsel, under the Parliamentary Counsel Act 1970 , is under the control of the First Parliamentary Counsel who is within the Attorney-General’s portfolio. The office is responsible for the drafting of bills for introduction into either House of the Parliament and amendments of bills, and other related functions.

Bills may be printed in a variety of forms from the inception of a draft bill to its presentation for assent. Some draft bills never proceed beyond the ‘proof’ stage. The authority to use the material in relation to a bill rests with Parliamentary Counsel until the bill is introduced in Parliament, when it passes to the Clerk of the House while the bill is before the House of Representatives and the Clerk of the Senate while the bill is before the Senate.

E.g. Remuneration and Allowances Bill 1990, Remuneration and Allowances Amendment Bill 1990 and Remuneration and Allowances (Amendment) Bill 1990—VP 1990-93/123-4; 129-30; 133-4.

Legislation handbook , Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Canberra, 2000, p. 37.

E.g. Exposure Draft, New Business Tax System (Consolidation) Bill 2000.