Bills and Explanatory Memoranda
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Overview
What is a bill?
A bill is a proposal for enacting new legislation or amending existing laws. In the Commonwealth Parliament, bills can be introduced in either house, except for bills to collect or spend money, known as money bills, which must be introduced in the lower house. The legislative process typically involves three readings of a bill. The first reading occurs when the bill is presented, the second reading includes outlining and debating its purpose, and the third reading involves a vote. If the bill passes, it is then sent to the other house of Parliament. A bill becomes law (an Act) upon agreement in identical form by both the upper and lower houses and subsequent assent by the Governor-General for Commonwealth bills.
What are explanatory memoranda?
Explanatory memoranda, often referred to as EMs, became common from the 1950s onwards. EMs were designed to assist members of Parliament, officials and the public to understand the content, objectives and operation of the clauses of a Bill. It is only since 1982 that EMs have been mandatory for all Commonwealth Parliament bills. Before the 1950s, memoranda more commonly took the form of Comparative Memoranda (CM). These were documents that simply set out the text of a principal Act as it would appear if the current Bill was passed. They also identified the additions or deletions made by the Bill to that Act. To confirm if a there is a document that has been identified EM or CM for a bill from 1901-1982 you can check the Explanatory and Comparative memoranda Index – Parliament of Australia.
For more information about EMs and CMs see the paper on Explanatory and Comparative Memoranda – Parliament of Australia or to find if a specific EM or CM is available on the APH website you can use the ParlInfo guided search – Parliament of Australia.
How to find an EM on the Register?
The Federal Register of Legislation (Register) provides links to the corresponding Australian Parliament House (APH) bill home page for almost all Acts from 1997 to the present day. The APH bill home page typically includes a copy of the bill, the explanatory memorandum, and any supplementary or replacement material related to the bill. You can find the link to the bill home page at the bottom of an Act’s ‘All versions’ page in the ‘As made’ table as shown below.
For Acts from 1901 to 1996, or where there is no APH bill home page, links are gradually being added to the Act’s ‘All versions’ page that direct you to a copy of the bill on the APH database, ParlInfo. If there is no link available for an Act on the Register, or if you are looking for a bill that is not associated with an Act, you can go directly to the APH database at ParlInfo guided search – Parliament of Australia.
Online Resources
Parliament of Australia – Bills and Legislation
Most bills and explanatory memoranda from 1996 onward can be found on the bill pages of the Parliament of Australia website at Bills and Legislation. You can search for assented bills of previous Parliaments sorted by title, date, chamber, status, and portfolio. The indexes to the Hansards – Parliament of Australia and Votes and Proceedings – Parliament of Australia can also assist in tracking the progress of a bill through Parliament.
Historical Senate Tabled Papers
The historical Senate tabled papers database provides information on Explanatory Memoranda (EM) for bills introduced in the Senate and Supplementary EM for bills introduced and amended in the House of Representatives.
ParlInfo Advanced Search – Parliament of Australia
Any available EMs and CMs can be found by performing an advanced search on ParlInfo. This will also allow you to search for bills, bills digests and other related documents. You can do a general search by selecting the collections and type of documents that you want to search or target your search to just a copy of a Bill or EM/CM. Help on using advanced search is available at ParlInfo - Search Tips.
Explanatory and Comparative Memoranda Index 1901 – 1982
The Parliament of Australia explanatory and comparative memoranda index lists all items identified as explanatory memoranda or comparative memoranda from 1901 to the end of 1982. A small selection of Explanatory Memoranda from 1982 –2008 are also listed. You can check for copies of memoranda by searching ParlInfo.
The Australian Legal Information Institute (AustLII) has a number of Commonwealth resources, including, case law, legislation, other materials and ATO rulings available at AustLII - Commonwealth Resources. The legislation collection includes selected Commonwealth bills from 1967 onwards at Commonwealth of Australia Bills and Commonwealth bills explanatory memoranda from 1959 onwards at Commonwealth of Australia Bills Explanatory Memoranda.
Taxation related Explanatory Memoranda
Many taxation-related memoranda from 1936 onwards have been made available online on the Australian Taxation Office Legal Database. The database covers income tax laws as well as a variety of other laws, such as the Banking Act, Taxation Administration Act 1959, and the Health Insurance Levy Act.
Historical Senate Tabled Papers
The historical Senate tabled papers database provides information on Explanatory Memoranda (EM) for bills introduced in the Senate and Supplementary EM for bills introduced and amended in the House of Representatives.
National Archives of Australia
The National Archives of Australia (NAA) holds Bill Files (Series A2863) from 1901 to 2006, created by the Attorney-General’s Department and the Office of Parliamentary Counsel. These files contain documents on enacted and lapsed government bills, identified by Act number, and are accessible via the NAA RecordSearch database.