This Topic looks at the passage of a Bill through the legislative process on its way to becoming an Act. In Australia, the power to make legislation is divided between the Commonwealth and the states. This Topic will look at the process of finding a Bill, its explanatory memorandum and its second reading speech.
The Legislative Process
To put this Topic in context, it is necessary to give a brief explanation of the legislative process. The Parliament of Australia is bicameral, which means it has two legislative chambers.
The lower house is known as the House of Representatives.
The political party which holds the majority of seats in the House of Representatives is the party which forms the government.
The Prime Minister sits in this house.
The upper house is known as the Senate.
The work of Parliament includes enacting legislation.
Hansard is the name given to edited transcripts of debate from the Senate, House of Representatives and parliamentary committees.
The Encyclopaedic Australian Legal Dictionary describes extrinsic materials as those materials which do not form part of an act but which may assist in the interpretation of the act.
Such materials include, among many other things, second reading speeches (part of Hansard), explanatory memoranda and parliamentary committee reports.
Explanatory memoranda are explanatory statements that accompany a Bill, explaining its purpose and intended application.
Bill
A Bill is a draft of a law which Parliament proposes to enact.
Proposals for new legislation may come from a variety of sources including Cabinet, a government department, or a Law Reform Commission report.
Once a decision has been made to proceed with legislation, the parliamentary draftsperson is instructed to prepare a Bill.
Passage of a Bill
Bills will be introduced into the house in which the responsible Minister is sitting.
If the responsible Minister is a member of the House of Representatives, the Bill will be introduced in this house.
If the responsible Minister is a senator, the Bill will be introduced into the Senate.
A Bill passes through several stages in Parliament before it becomes law (when it is called an Act or Statute).
These stages are:
- 1st reading - This stage is a formal one where only the title of the Bill is read. There is little or no debate, and a date is set for the second reading;
- 2nd reading - The Minister, Member or Senator responsible for the Bill introduces it and explains its purpose. This is known as the second reading speech. The second reading speech is a good source to find the policy background to the Bill. The broad principles of the Bill are then debated, sometimes over several days;
- Committee Stage - This stage involves a detailed examination of the Bill, clause by clause, either by the whole House, or by a standing or select committee of a few members. The Bill may be amended during this stage, and is voted on clause by clause;
- 3rd reading - This stage is largely a formality. The Bill is then sent to the other chamber, where the procedure outlined above is repeated;
- Royal Assent - Once the Bill has passed through both Houses of Parliament, it is sent to the Governor-General where it receives Royal Assent. It is now an Act. It may or may not come into force on Assent. See the Topic in this tutorial History of a an Act - Cth for more discussion on an act coming into force.
The first page of a Bill generally gives some or all of the following information:
- the year of the Parliamentary session;
- the Parliament and its House (i.e. House of Representatives or Senate);
- the name of the Minister, Senator, or responsible ministerial portfolio;
- the title.
The text of a Bill is set out in much the same way as an Act.
The provisions of a Bill are numbers and called clauses.
Clauses may be further divided into sub-clauses and paragraphs.
Sourcing Bills
You may wonder why we need to source Bills.
We do not necessarily source a Bill to access the Bill itself.
Most of the time, we source a Bill to access all of the extrinsic materials attached to the Bill:
- Explanatory Memorandum
- Second Reading Speech
- parliamentary debates
- Bills Digest
- Committee reports
These documents assist in our understanding of a Bill.
Understand an Act
Bill + EM + 2RS + Reports = Act
Where to Source Bills
There are many ways to source extrinsic materials.
The two databases to use to source a Bill and its extrinsic materials are:
- Federal Register of Legislation
- Parliament of Australia
If you are requiring a quick understanding of a section of an Act, you would refer to the Explanatory Memorandum (EM).
As you would typically be sourcing the Act from the Federal Register of Legislation (FRoL), you would remain in the FRoL to source the EM.
If you were required to research an Act in more detail, you would visit the Parliament of Australia website, and use the ParlInfo search to access all of the extrinsic materials attached to the Bill.
The Bill's home page has all of this in the one place - one stop shopping!
Older Bills do not have home pages, though.
In this instance, you would need to work through the ParlInfo search results list and piece together the extrinsic materials.
Locating Bills and Explanatory Memoranda
Federal Register of Legislation
Whilst at Murdoch you have access to many subscription databases which provide you with a wide range of legal materials.
Once you are in practice, you may not have access to all of the resources available to you as a student at Murdoch.
Therefore it is good practice to cultivate your skills using a wide range of resources, including those which are freely available.
The Federal Register of Legislation website is one such freely available source which can provide you with access to Bills and Explanatory Memoranda.
Your task: Find the Bill and Explanatory Memorandum for the Do Not Call Register Act 2006 (Cth).
Step 1:
Source Act using Legify.com.au from the Federal Register of Legislation for Bills that passed from 1901-1937, 1996 +
Step 2:
In the Federal Register of Legislation select the All Versions link from the activity menu located below the deep blue band and above the Act name
Step 3:
Scroll to the bottom of the All Versions page to the As made heading to access the Originating Bill and Explanatory Memorandum link
Note: Second Reading Speeches are not available from the FRoL.
2RS are available from the Parliament of Australia website.
Locating Bills, Explanatory Memoranda and Second Reading Speeches
Parliament of Australia Website
Whilst at Murdoch you have access to many subscription databases which provide you with a wide range of legal materials.
Once you are in practice, you may not have access to all of the resources available to you as a student at Murdoch.
Therefore it is good practice to cultivate your skills using a wide range of resources, including those which are freely available.
The Parliament of Australia website is one such freely available source which can provide you with access to Bills and Hansard.
Your task: Find the Bill, second reading speech and explanatory memorandum for the Do Not Call Register Act 2006 (Cth).
Step 1: Access the Parliament of Australia website and select Bills.
You will be taken to a page which gives you the opportunity to either Search all bills or Browse bills.
Step 2: Under the Browse bills heading, select the letter D, as you are looking for the Do Not Call Register Bill.
At this stage of your research, you might not know the year of the Bill.
Whilst the Act was enacted in 2006, the Bill may have entered Parliament in the previous year.
You won't know this for sure until you find the Bill itself.
Step 3: You will be taken to a page with a search box at the top.
This page will display a list of Bills beginning with the letter D.
The default setting for this page is to display 10 results per page.
A tip to make finding this Bill easier is to change the Results per page setting from the default 10 to 100 results.
Once you have done this you can use the Ctrl+F search function and search for the Bill.
Just type the Bill title into the search box that appears (it will be in different places for different browsers and operating systems).
You will then be taken to the place on the page where the words in the Bill title are found.
Step 4: Once you have located the Do Not Call Register Bill 2006 (Cth), click on the hyperlinked Bill title to be taken to the Bill page.
Step 5: The page dedicated to the Do Not Call Register Bill 2006 contains a lot of useful information about the Bill and its passage through Parliament.
You can find:
- the original text of the Bill;
- the dates of its progress through both the House of Representatives and the Senate;
- the text of the original Bill and its explanatory memorandum,
- links to the Hansard transcript of the responsible Minister's second reading speech.
Step 6: Click on the link to the Minister's second reading speech.
Once you click through to the second reading speech, you will have the option to download it as a PDF file by clicking the Download Fragment link.
The fragment will appear in PDF format exactly as it does in the printed version of Hansard.
The PDF link provides you with the easiest way to find details such as the date of the second reading speech, the house into which it was introduced and the name of the responsible Minister.
Step 7: Returning to the dedicated Do Not Call Register Bill 2006 page from Step 5, you can locate the full text of the Bill.
Step 8: Returning to the dedicated Do Not Call Register Bill 2006 page from Step 5, you can locate the explanatory memoranda for the Bill.
Locating Explanatory Memoranda
Federal Register of Legislation
Your task: Find the Explanatory Memorandum for the Do Not Call Register Act 2006 (Cth).
Tip: Explanatory Memoranda (EM) are companion documents to Bills.
Step 1:
Source Act using Legify.com.au from the Federal Register of Legislation for Explanatory Memoranda
Step 2:
In the Federal Register of Legislation select the All Versions link from the activity menu located below the deep blue band and above the Act name
Step 3:
Scroll to the bottom of the All Versions page to the As made heading to access the Originating Bill and Explanatory Memorandum link
From 1982, the provision of Explanatory Memoranda has been standard practice for government Bills introduced into the Commonwealth Parliament.
Explanatory Memoranda are available for Bills since 1996 through the Parliament House website or Federal Register of Legislation (attached to the Bill).
Search the Explanatory Memoranda Index for pre-1996 Bills.
In addition to the Parliament House website or Federal Register of Legislation, EMs can be sourced from AustLII.
From the Bill's home page on the Parliament of Australia website, select the link to the Explanatory Memorandum for the Bill.
Most Commonwealth Bills are accompanied by explanatory memoranda, which explain, clause by clause, the content and purpose of the Bill.
Explanatory memoranda are another good source for finding out the background to the Bill.
ParlInfo Guided Search
The Parliament of Australia site has a search function in ParlInfo.
ParlInfo has a Guided Search to make searching easy
The two searches you would use the most are Documents relating to a Bill and Second Reading Speeches.
Task:
Source the Bill, Explanatory Memoranda, Second Reading Speech
Tip: All of these extrinsic materials can be sourced from the Bill's home page
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Step 1: Add the details of the Bill Add Bill title to Search text box: Do Not Call Register Add dates Click on Search |
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Step 2: Navigate down the Results list to the original Bill Select the Bill title |
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Step 3: Click on the link to the Bill home page |
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Step 4: The Bill home page includes:
If the Bill was referred to a Parliamentary Committee, a link would be included in the Notes pane. |
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Step 5: The Bills Digest includes the Bill's:
The Bills Digest is a summary of the Bill, EM, and includes links to relevant resources Tip: Open the PDF version of the Bills Digest to access the live links |
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No Bill home page?
If the Bill does not have a Bill home page, select the relevant document types from the ParlInfo Guided Search Results list.
Task:
Source the Bill and Explanatory Memoranda of Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth).
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Step 1: Add the details of the Bill Add Bill title to Search text box: Sex Discrimination Add dates Click on Search |
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Step 2: Select the Bill title This takes you to only the Bill - no Bill home page In this instance, you will need to return to the Results list to source the Bill, Explanatory Memoranda and Bills Digest. |
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Step 3: Note that this Bill has two Bills Digests. Tip: Read the Bills Digest first - this gives an overview of the Bill. Click on the link to the Bills Digest for
Sex Discrimination Bill 1983 [No. 2] [Bills Digest] |
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Step 4: Read the Bill Digest In the Background and Outline section, it is explained that the initial Bill, introduced to Parliament on 2 June 1983, was re-drafted and re-introduced to Parliament on29 November.
Note that public comment was sought in 1983, which indicates that a Parliamentary Committee must have considered the Bill |
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The Second Reading Speech will need to be sourced from a Guided Search for Second Reading Speeches |
The Bill's home page includes:
- the original text of the Bill;
- the dates of its progress through both the House of Representatives and the Senate;
- the text of the original Bill and its explanatory memorandum,
- links to the Hansard transcript of the responsible Minister's second reading speech.
Click on the link to the Minister's second reading speech.
Once you click through to the second reading speech, you will have the option to download it as a PDF file by clicking the Download Fragment link.
The fragment will appear in PDF format exactly as it does in the printed version of Hansard.
The PDF link provides you with the easiest way to find details such as the date of the second reading speech, the house into which it was introduced and the name of the responsible Minister.
No Bill home page?
If the Bill does not have a Bill home page, select the relevant document types from the ParlInfo Guided Search Results list.
Task:
Source the Second Reading Speech of Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth)
ParlInfo Guided Search
The Parliament of Australia site has a search function in ParlInfo.
ParlInfo has a Guided Search to make searching easy
The two searches you would use the most are Documents relating to a Bill and Second Reading Speeches.
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Step 1: Select the ParlInfo Guided Search for Second Reading Speeches for a Bill
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Step 2: Add the details of the Bill Add Bill title to Search text box: Sex Discrimination Add dates
Click on Search |
Search using "Sex Discrimination" as sex discrimination gave too many irrelevant results |
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Step 3: Re-order the results to Order by Date (Oldest First) Click on Search |
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Step 4: Navigate through the Results to source the Second Reading Speech by Senator Ryan on 2 June 1983 |
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Committee reports
Committee reports are listed in the Notes panel, located at the end of the Bill Home Page
If links are not included, note the Committee name and report date, then either:
No Bill Home Page?
Parliamentary Committee reports can be sourced from the Parliament of Australia's Committees page.
That said, it can be quicker to conduct an Internet search, limiting the search results to those from the Parliament of Australia website.
To limit search results to a specific website, in the search box, type site: immediately followed by the website's URL.
You can then add search terms.
For example: "sex discrimination bill 1983" "committee report" site:aph.gov.au