Glossary and abbreviations list
| Revenues, expenses, assets and liabilities administered
by the department for the Commonwealth generally and not for
the running of the department. |
| Proposals to alter a bill, which may be moved by any senator
or member. Any amendments made by one House must be agreed
to by the other House before a bill can become law. The Senate
may not amend bills imposing taxation or appropriating money
for the Commonwealth’s ordinary annual services; nor
may it amend an appropriation bill so as to increase a charge
or burden on the people. The Senate may request the House of
Representatives to make such amendments. |
| Australian Parliamentary Service |
| The final version of a bill as agreed to by both Houses,
prepared by the initiating House for the Governor‑General’s
signature (or assent). |
| A proposal for a law that is introduced into parliament.
Bills are considered consecutively by the two Houses of Commonwealth
Parliament, the House of Representatives and the Senate. The
two Houses must agree to a bill in identical terms before it
can be transmitted to the Governor-General for assent, which
marks its passage into law. |
| The departments supporting the two Houses of the Commonwealth
Parliament: namely, the Department of the Senate and the Department
of the House of Representatives. |
| The department’s human resource information management
system. |
| Clerks, including the Clerk (the head of the department),
the Deputy Clerk and other senior officers of the department,
who sit in the chamber and provide procedural advice while
taking the minutes of Senate proceedings. |
| The daily program of Senate committee hearings held in Parliament
House; named after the Senate ‘Red’. |
| The stage in the debate on a bill in the chamber during
which each clause or group of clauses is considered in detail
and during which amendments or requests may be moved. |
| Citizenship Visits Program |
| A procedure by which a senator notifies the Senate that
he or she seeks to disallow certain delegated legislation. |
| Dewan Perwakilan Daera, the upper house of the Indonesian
parliament |
| The Department of Parliamentary Services—formed from
the amalgamation on 1 February 2004 of the Department
of the Parliamentary Library, the Department of the Parliamentary
Reporting Staff and the Joint House Department. |
| An online, updateable version of the Senate ‘Red’ which
allows users to follow the progress of business in the chamber
on any sitting day. |
| The name of the Parliament House facility in which the PEO
conducts role‑plays and other programs for visiting students. |
| A term commonly used to describe legislation committees’ consideration
of the annual and additional estimates of expenditure of government
departments and agencies. |
| fringe benefits tax. |
| A dedicated virtual private network that provides secure
and trusted communications across any infrastructure, including
the internet. |
| goods and services tax. |
| A dedicated broadband fibre link between the Table Office
and the provider of its microfilming and digitising services. |
| A service run by the Table Office which provides senators,
their staff and other clients with copies of legislation, documents
tabled in the Senate and responses to inquiries about Senate
business. |
| Inter‑Parliamentary Union |
| The company holding the contract for the department’s
internal auditing function. |
| Committees which report on bills or draft bills, the annual
and additional estimates of expenditure of government departments
and agencies, and annual reports and the performance of government
departments and agencies—the last two are standing references
which enable the committees to initiate inquiries in respect
of their scrutiny of Commonwealth administration. Legislation
committees effectively have government majorities. |
| A community education program run by the PEO for community
groups at lunchtime. |
| Services provided in the Senate chamber by the chamber attendants,
including distribution of documents, conveyance of messages
and supervision of chamber doors during divisions (formal votes)
and quorum calls. |
| Proposals for the Senate to agree to something, which must
be expressed in a way that conforms with standing orders. |
| occupational health and safety |
| The platform that supports the parliamentary computing network. |
| Two significant aspects of the law relating to parliament:
the privileges or immunities of the Houses of the Commonwealth
Parliament; and the powers of the Houses to protect the integrity
of their processes, particularly the power to punish contempts. |
| Parliamentary Executive |
| Parliamentary Education Office |
| The President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House
of Representatives are the Presiding Officers. Each presides
over the proceedings of his or her respective House. Administratively,
each is responsible for his or her respective chamber department
and together they are responsible for the DPS. |
| When referred to in the context of the Senate, these are
written questions to ministers from other senators. Questions
on notice in the context of estimates proceedings are written
or oral questions from committee members to a minister and/or
the minister’s departmental officers, which require written
answers from the department or minister. |
| Committees which report on matters referred by the Senate—generally
policy issues—other than those referred to the legislation
committees. References committees have non‑government
majorities. |
| really simple syndication |
| A checklist of amendments used by senators when considering
bills in the committee of the whole. Running sheets show all
proposed amendments, identified by subject matter and grouped
as needed; conflicts between amendments; relevant references
in the bills under consideration; and procedural questions
to be posed by the Chair of Committees. |
| selection advisory committee |
| Lists of amendments to bills, agreed to by the Senate, which
are forwarded to the House of Representatives for consideration. |
| Pro‑forma procedural statements used by senators at
certain times during debates and other Senate proceedings. |
| The daily program issued to senators on sitting days as
a guide to chamber proceedings; named after the red flash printed
on the front page of the document. |
| Senior Executive Service |
| Senate Management Advisory Group |
| Procedural rules that govern the conduct of proceedings
in the Senate and its committees. |
| A two‑yearly survey commissioned by the Department
of the Senate and conducted by an independent research services
organisation to assess senators’ satisfaction with the
quality, efficiency and effectiveness of the services provided
by the department. |
| A bill which is amended by the House in which it originates
is reprinted to incorporate the amendments before it is transmitted
to the other House. The bill is therefore transmitted in the
form in which it is ‘read a third time’ in the
originating House. |
| Working in the Senate, a program under which public servants
from other departments and agencies are seconded to the department
to work on committee inquiries and to gain knowledge of the
Senate and its operations, which they can apply to the benefit
of their organisations on their return. |
