Lifecycle of Parliamentary Documents: Australia
- the Parliament. The committee may report when it sees fit and may recommend a document be made a Parliamentary Paper, in whole or in part." Furthermore, "[i]f conferring with a similar committee of the Senate the committee may inquire into and report on the publication and distribution of parliamentary and government publications and on matters referred to it by a Minister."
- SO 223, requiring that select committee reports be presented to the House on or before the date set by the House.
- SO 247, requiring that committee reports be presented together with the minutes of proceedings. When a report it presented, "it may be ordered to be made a Parliamentary Paper with or without the documents accompanying it." Special procedures are set out regarding the receipt and publication of reports completed while the House is not sitting.
In addition, there are various relevant House resolutions, including resolutions regarding
- the time frame within which government responses to committee reports must be tabled in the House:
- the disclosure of evidence and documents of House and joint committees;
- the procedures for tabling ministerial papers;
- Hansard and the authority to publish records and debates of proceedings;
- the publication of records of the Privileges Committee, including authorization for the transfer of such records to the National Archives of Australia;
- the broadcasting of proceedings; and
- the documents that are to be made Parliamentary Papers.[1]
b. Senate
Senate standing orders related to records and documents include the following:[2]
- SO 22, requiring that a Publications Committee be appointed for each Parliament, and that "[a]ll documents presented to the Senate which have not been ordered to be printed by either House of the Parliament shall stand referred to the committee, which shall make recommendations on the printing of documents.” Furthermore, when sitting with a similar House committee, the committee has the power to “inquire into and report on the publication and distribution of parliamentary and government publications and on such related matters as are referred to it by the relevant minister."
- SO 28, enabling the Senate to fix the date for a committee to report its proceedings to the Senate.
- ↑ See Resolutions of the House, Parliament of Australia, https://perma.cc/DXV2-WDMY. The resolutions are published with the House Standing Orders starting from page 110.
- ↑ Senate Standing Orders, https://perma.cc/2FCX-5LSZ.
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