A bill is a proposal for a law or a change to an existing law. A bill becomes law (an Act) when agreed to in identical form by both houses of Parliament and assented to by the Governor-General.

Bills introduced to Parliament are scrutinised to make sure they meet certain standards and to consider whether they should be referred to a committee for further investigation. This can include feedback from stakeholders and the general public, and a report recommending potential improvements to the bill.

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Current Bills
Previous Bills
Type

TOTAL RESULTS: 85

  • Date
    27 Feb 2014 
    Chamber
    House of Representatives 
    Status
    Act 
    Portfolio
    Infrastructure and Regional Development 
    Summary
    Amends the:
    Nation Building Program (National Land Transport) Act 2009
    to: amend the short title of the Act; enable the Roads to Recovery Programme to continue past June 2014; combine provisions of the Act relating to national projects and off-network projects; enable funding of research and investigations of transport development and innovation projects funded under the Act; and enable certain partnership and non-corporate Commonwealth entities to be eligible for funding; and
    Income Tax Assessment Act 1997
    and
    Telstra Corporation Act 1991
    to make consequential amendments. Also repeals the
    Australian Land Transport Development Act 1988
    ,
    Railway Standardization (New South Wales and Victoria) Agreement Act 1958
    and
    Roads to Recovery Act 2000

    Bill | Explanatory Memorandum

  • Date
    19 Sep 2012 
    Chamber
    House of Representatives 
    Status
    Act 
    Portfolio
    Home Affairs and Justice 
    Summary
    Amends: the
    Crimes Act 1914
    to introduce targeted integrity testing for staff of the Australian Federal Police, the Australian Crime Commission and the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service (Customs and Border Protection); the
    Law Enforcement Integrity Commissioner Act 2006
    to extend the jurisdiction of the Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity to all staff of the Australian Transaction Reporting and Analysis Centre and the CrimTrac Agency and prescribed staff of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry; the
    Customs Administration Act 1985
    to enable the Chief Executive Officer of Customs and Border Protection to make orders and certain declarations and to authorise drug and alcohol testing; and
    Australian Crime Commission Act 2002
    ,
    Surveillance Devices Act 2004
    and
    Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979
    to make consequential amendments. 

    Bill | Explanatory Memorandum

  • Date
    23 May 2012 
    Chamber
    House of Representatives 
    Status
    Act 
    Portfolio
    Attorney-General 
    Summary
    Amends the:
    Legislative Instruments Act 2003
    to: repeal spent and redundant instruments (including automatic repeal of certain instruments and bulk repeal of instruments by regulation); provide certainty about what instruments sunset and when they sunset, and provide staged sunsetting dates for instruments that were registered in bulk when the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments commenced in 2005; enable the Attorney-General to align sunsetting dates of related legislative instruments to enable thematic reviews to be conducted; and clarify the requirements for explanatory statements; and
    Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011
    to make a consequential amendment. 

    Bill | Explanatory Memorandum

  • Date
    01 Mar 2012 
    Chamber
    Senate 
    Status
    Act 
    Sponsor
    SIEWERT, Sen Rachel 
    Summary
    Mitigates the negative impacts of petrol sniffing in areas designated as low aromatic fuel areas and fuel control areas by: prohibiting the supply of regular unleaded petrol; promoting and monitoring the supply of low aromatic fuel; and controlling the supply and storage of other fuels. 

    Bill | Explanatory Memorandum

  • Date
    06 Jul 2011 
    Chamber
    House of Representatives 
    Status
    Act 
    Portfolio
    Attorney-General 
    Summary
    Amends the
    Legislative Instruments Act 2003
    to provide that legislative instruments remain in force for 10 years following registration (rather than commencement) on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments. 

    Bill | Explanatory Memorandum

  • Date
    29 Sep 2010 
    Chamber
    Senate 
    Status
    Act 
    Portfolio
    Home Affairs 
    Summary
    Amends the:
    Criminal Code Act 1995
    to: insert three identity crime offences in relation to identification information; and allow a victim of identity crime to obtain a certificate which may assist in re-establishing their credit history;
    Crimes Act 1914
    in relation to the administration of justice offences and makes consequential amendments to eight other Acts;
    Director of Public Prosecutions Act 1983
    to: allow for the delegation of functions and powers to facilitate joint trial arrangements; and provide legal immunity for persons carrying out functions and duties under the Act;
    Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006
    in relation to certain written notices and the disclosure of sensitive information held by the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre;
    Australian Federal Police Act 1979
    to: enable the Australian Federal Police (AFP) to use alcohol screening as a preliminary test for all random, targeted investigation and certain incident alcohol testing; and allow the Commissioner to confer awards on other AFP employees; and Judiciary Act 1903 to repeal redundant provisions in relation to eligibility to practice law in the territories. Also makes miscellaneous amendments to the
    Australian Federal Police Act 1979
    ,
    Crimes Act 1914
    ,
    Criminal Code Act 1995
    and
    Privacy Act 1988

    Bill | Explanatory Memorandum

  • Date
    16 Sep 2009 
    Chamber
    House of Representatives 
    Status
    Act 
    Portfolio
    Employment and Workplace Relations 
    Summary
    Amends the
    Long Service Leave (Commonwealth Employees) Act 1976
    ,
    Telstra Corporation Act 1991
    and
    Telstra (Transition to Full Private Ownership) Act 2005
    to extend the application of the
    Long Service Leave (Commonwealth Employees) Act 1976
    to Telstra pending development of national long service leave arrangements in consultation with the states and territories. 

    Bill | Explanatory Memorandum

  • Date
    19 Mar 2009 
    Chamber
    House of Representatives 
    Status
    Act 
    Portfolio
    Attorney-General 
    Summary
    Amends the:
    Service and Execution of Process Act 1992
    to: establish the Cross Border Justice Scheme to enable judicial officers, police and other officials to deal with offenders from any of the participating jurisdictions (Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory); and clarify that prisoners may give evidence by audio or video link when subpoenaed to give evidence in interstate court or tribunal proceedings; and
    Evidence and Procedure (New Zealand) Act 1994
    to expand the range of proceedings covered by the scheme established between Australia and New Zealand for the service of subpoenas between the two jurisdictions. 

    Bill | Explanatory Memorandum

  • Date
    28 May 2008 
    Chamber
    House of Representatives 
    Status
    Act 
    Portfolio
    Attorney-General 
    Summary
    Amends the
    Law Officers Act 1964
    and
    Long Service Leave (Commonwealth Employees) Act 1976
    to enable Solicitors-General to access long service leave entitlements. 

    Bill | Explanatory Memorandum

  • Date
    13 Feb 2008 
    Chamber
    House of Representatives 
    Status
    Act 
    Portfolio
    Finance and Deregulation 
    Summary
    Amends the
    Lands Acquisition Act 1989
    to: allow states and territories to administer exploration and/or mining on Commonwealth land through regulations that incorporate or adopt state/territory mining legislation; provide for a penalty regime for breaches of the regulations; enable the minister to make offers of compensation to interest holders without a claim being made; and remove the requirement for commercial acquisitions in the market of an interest in land to be tabled in Parliament. Also repeals the
    Lands Acquisition (Defence) Act 1968

    Bill | Explanatory Memorandum

Bills lists

All bills before Parliament for the current calendar year and details of their progress.

Legislative Analysis

Parliamentary Library analysis of bills, including the purpose, background and key issues.

Legislative Instruments

Parliament delegates the power to legislate so details of law can be changed quickly by others. These delegated laws are referred to as legislative instruments and can be overruled – disallowed – by Parliament.

Disallowance Alerts

Legislative instruments subject to a notice of motion to disallow. The progress and eventual outcome of any such notice is also recorded.

Tariff proposals

The introduction of a tariff proposal is the formal procedure for initiating the collection of customs and excise duties.

Bills referred to committees

To inquire and report views on the bill from organisations and individuals.

Statistics on legislation

Printed bills and explanatory memoranda

Order printed versions at the Federal Register of Legislation by clicking the print icon at the document level.