Legislative programs

Government Bills program

We draft Bills for the Government for introduction into the NSW Parliament. A Bill is a proposed Act of Parliament. A Bill becomes an Act only if Parliament passes it and the Governor assents to (that is, signs) the passed Bill.

Government Bills require Cabinet’s approval based on a Cabinet submission from a Minister. The Minister’s Department is typically the client that requests us to write the Bill for the Minister.

The program principally involves—

• liaising with the Department of Premier and Cabinet and the Premier’s Office concerning priorities and timing for Government Bills, and
• allocating legislative drafters to draft those Government Bills.

The program also involves drafting amendments to Government Bills for the Government. These kinds of amendments can happen during the passage of a Government Bill through Parliament. They are called amendments in committee.

This program is managed by Annette O’Callaghan, NSW Parliamentary Counsel. She is assisted in managing the program by our Deputy Parliamentary Counsel. Contact Annette.

Non-Government Bills program

We also draft Bills for members of Parliament and amendments in committee for those Bills. These kinds of Bills are called non-Government Bills because, typically, our clients are members of Parliament rather than the Government. However, occasionally members of the Government will introduce non-Government Bills.

This program is managed by Richard Hurford, Deputy Parliamentary Counsel. Contact Richard.

Environmental planning instruments program

We draft environmental planning instruments (EPIs) made under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 . There are 2 kinds of EPIs—

• State environmental planning policies (also called SEPPs) are made by the Governor, and
• local environmental plans (LEPs), which are usually made by the Minister for Planning and Public Spaces or the local councils for the areas concerned.

This program is managed by April Eisner, Senior Assistant Parliamentary Counsel. Contact April.

Statutory instruments program

We draft a variety of instruments made under powers given by Acts (also called statutes). They include the following—

• regulations made by the Governor,
• proclamations made by the Governor to set dates for the commencement of Acts (called commencement proclamations),
• by-laws for universities,
• instruments other than Acts that make changes to Acts,
• rules made by courts and tribunals to regulate their practices and procedures (called rules of court).

This program is managed by Jason Emmett, Deputy Parliamentary Counsel. Contact Jason.

Staged repeal program

The Subordinate Legislation Act 1989 provides for certain statutory instruments made by the Governor (mostly regulations) to be automatically repealed on a staged basis each 1 September, with the possibility of extension for no more than 5 additional years. Typically, a Department will be required to prepare a regulatory impact statement (also called an RIS) for a replacement instrument and consult the public about it.

We draft replacement statutory instruments for Departments (including for RIS purposes).

This program is managed by Michael Andrews, Senior Assistant Parliamentary Counsel. Contact Michael.

Statute Law Revision program

Each year the Government introduces 2 Bills to fix up errors, update out-of-date references and make other minor changes to NSW legislation. These Bills are named Statute Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bills. They are sometimes called Statute Law Revision Bills or simply SLR Bills. Only changes considered non-controversial are included in SLR Bills. We draft these Bills for the Government.

This program is managed by Jennifer Roan, Senior Assistant Parliamentary Counsel. Contact Jennifer.