The Senate Department ![[The staff of the Department]](images/Staff2.jpg)
The Constitution
vests the Commonwealth legislative power in a Parliament consisting of the Queen,
represented by the Governor-General, a Senate and a House of Representatives.
The Department of the Senate provides the Senate, its committees, the President
of the Senate and senators with a broad range of advisory and support services
related to the exercise of the legislative power of the Commonwealth. The
parliamentary head of the department is the President of the Senate and the departmental
head is the Clerk of the Senate.
The department is one of three supporting the two Houses, the others
being the Department of the House of Representatives and the Department
of Parliamentary Services.
The work of the Department
of the Senate is determined almost entirely by the Senate and its committees.
The department is responsible, not to the government of the day, but to the Senate
and all senators, and maintains complete impartiality in serving equally senators
from all political parties and independent senators.
Offices of the Department
The Department consists of five offices: the Office of the Clerk of the
Senate, the Table Office, the Procedure Office, the Committee Office and
the Black Rod's Office. The following is a brief summary of the functions
of each Office.
The Clerk's Office is directly responsible for: - provision
of high quality procedural and constitutional advice to senators in respect of
the operations of the Senate and its committees
- provision of secretariat,
advisory and administrative support to the Procedure Committee and the Committee
of Privileges
- production, amendment and updating of Odgers' Australian
Senate Practice
- production and dissemination of material relating
to the work of the Senate and its committees to the widest possible audience
- corporate
leadership of the Department of the Senate
- secretariat services for the
Inter-Parliamentary Union.
In addition, the office exercises overall
responsibility for, and quality control of, all procedural and administrative
activities of the department. The
Table Office is responsible for the procedural and administrative support necessary
for the effective conduct of the business of the Senate, including: - provision
of procedural and programming advice and documentation
- production of
the official record of Senate proceedings (Journals of the Senate)
- production
of the record of all business before the Senate (Notice Paper)
- production
of the daily Order of Business (the Red)
- processing of all legislation
considered by the Senate
- provision of an inquiry and distribution service
covering all documentation and business before the Senate
- arranging custody
of all documents tabled in the Senate
- provision of chamber-related statistics,
including production of Business of the Senate
- provision of committee
secretariats for the Selection of Bills, Appropriations and Staffing and Senate
and Joint Publications committees, and administrative support for the Scrutiny
of Bills Committee.
The Procedure Office provides a range of services for senators
and departmental staff. The Clerk Assistant (Procedure), as head of the office,
provides procedural advice, both orally and in writing, and legislative drafting
services, principally to non-government senators. The Clerk Assistant is also
a Clerk at the Table. The office provides the secretariats for the Senate's two
legislative scrutiny committees, the Regulations and Ordinances Committee and
the Scrutiny of Bills Committee; the secretaries to these committees provide some
assistance to the Clerk Assistant when not undertaking their committee work. Also
within the Procedure Office, the Research Section conducts research into matters
of parliamentary, historical and constitutional significance; publishes information
about the Senate in books and brochures and also electronically; organises seminars
on parliamentary processes for senators, their staff, and staff of parliamentary
and executive departments; maintains a procedural information resource centre;
coordinates Senate programs for visiting parliamentarians and parliamentary officers;
and arranges public lectures and exhibitions on matters of parliamentary interest.
The Parliamentary Education Office, jointly funded by the Departments of
the Senate and the House of Representatives, is attached to the Procedure Office.
The Parliamentary Education Office conducts programs which aim to make schoolchildren,
in particular, more aware of the role and functions of the Parliament. The Committee Office provides secretariat staff, research and administrative support and advice to the Senate's standing committees, select committees and certain joint committees. (Senators also serve on joint committees administered by the Department of the House of Representatives.)
The office is managed by the Clerk Assistant (Committees) who provides procedural advice and guidance to committees and committee secretariats and is a Clerk at the Table. In managing the Committee Office the Clerk Assistant (Committees) is assisted by the Senior Clerk of Committees who plays an important role in the coordination of resources between secretariats and in the dissemination of Committee Office information.
The Committee Office supports eight legislative and general purpose standing committees, three joint statutory committees and any select committee appointed by the Senate. The work of each legislative and general purpose standing committee is supported by a committee secretariat. The secretariat comprises the Clerk Assistant (Committees) as the Clerk's delegate, the committee secretary, one or more research officers, a Parliamentary Officer Class 4 whose chief role is to support the estimates process, and an executive assistant. The number of research officers assigned to a secretariat depends on workload, which is determined by the committee and ultimately by the Senate. Select and joint committees are provided with similar secretariats.
Black
Rod's Office
Black Rod's Office provides a range of services to senators and the department
which includes the management of office accommodation in Parliament House
and its annexes, and the supply and management of equipment, furniture,
information systems, transport, stores, electronic publishing, printing
and messenger services. In addition, the office is responsible for the
security of the Senate and its offices, the arrangement of ceremonies
connected with the sittings of the Senate and the supervision of the broadcasting
of the proceedings of the Senate.
Also within the Black Rod’s Office, the Human Resource Management Section is responsible for the payment of salaries and allowances to senators and departmental staff, recruitment, the administration and maintenance of the department’s records, the provision of advice and assistance in relation to performance management, occupational health and safety, compensation, training and development and the administration of entitlements contained in the Employee Collective Agreement.
The Financial Management Section advises on financial policy, coordinates
preparation of the departmental budgets, prepares annual financial statements,
processes purchases and accounts, collects revenue, ensures compliance
with the Financial Management and Accountability Act, reports to management
on the use of financial resources, administers office holders’ and
senators’ postage allowances and administers departmental fraud control
policies.
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