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.
TOTAL RESULTS: 260
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- Date
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14 Feb 2018
- Chamber
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House of Representatives
- Status
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Act
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Portfolio
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Education and Training
- Summary
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Amends the:
Higher Education Support Act 2003
to: provide a new minimum repayment income of $44 999 for the compulsory repayment of Higher Education Loan Program (HELP) debts; replace the current repayment thresholds and introduce additional repayment thresholds; index HELP repayment thresholds to the consumer price index instead of average weekly earnings; and introduce, from 1 January 2019, a combined lifetime limit on the amount a student can borrow under HELP of $150 000 for students studying medicine, dentistry and veterinary science courses, and $104 440 for other students; Social Security Act 1991
and Student Assistance Act 1973
to align repayment thresholds for the Student Financial Supplement Scheme (SFSS) compulsory repayments with the HELP thresholds from the 2019-20 financial year; Social Security Act 1991
, Student Assistance Act 1973
and Trade Support Loans Act 2014
to provide that, from the 2019-20 financial year, SFSS debts will be repaid after HELP debts are discharged rather than concurrently; and VET Student Loans Act 2016
to make consequential amendments.
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- Date
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07 Dec 2017
- Chamber
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House of Representatives
- Status
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Act
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Portfolio
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Prime Minister
- Summary
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Amends the
Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006
, Independent National Security Legislation Monitor Act 2010
, Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security Act 1986
and Intelligence Services Act 2001
to: give effect to the allocation of certain ministerial powers following the establishment of a new Home Affairs portfolio; and make changes relating to the Attorney-General’s oversight of intelligence, security and law enforcement agencies.
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- Date
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22 Mar 2017
- Chamber
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Senate
- Status
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Act
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Portfolio
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Attorney-General
- Summary
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Amends the:
Racial Discrimination Act 1975
to: amend section 18C, which prohibits offensive behaviour based on racial hatred, to replace the words ‘offend’, ‘insult’ and ‘humiliate’ with ‘harass’ (resulting in the formulation ‘harass or intimidate’); and provide that an assessment of whether an act is reasonably likely to harass or intimidate a person or group of persons is made against the standard of a reasonable member of the Australian community; Australian Human Rights Commission Act 1986
to: replace the defined term of ‘alleged unlawful discrimination’ with ‘alleged acts, omissions or practices’; repeal the requirement for the President and commissioners to act in a way that promotes the collegiate nature of the Australian Human Rights Commission; provide that certain powers to report to the minister must be exercised by the President; expressly provide that the President is responsible for managing the administrative affairs, and is the accountable authority, of the commission; remove mandatory requirements to report to the minister on certain matters and replace them with discretionary reporting powers; provide that the President cannot delegate certain powers; introduce new grounds on which the commission or the President may or must close inquiries or terminate complaints; require the commission to act fairly in the performance of its inquiry functions; increase the threshold for lodging complaints; require the President to consider whether a complaint should be terminated on certain grounds before starting to inquire into the complaint; require the President to act fairly in his or her handling of complaints; allow the President to terminate complaints lodged more than six months after the alleged unlawful discrimination; require the inclusion of a note about the costs jurisdiction of the Federal Court (FC) and the Federal Circuit Court (FCC) in a notice of termination; prescribe procedures for voluntary conciliation conferences; and provide that applications may be made to the FC or FCC in relation to complaints terminated on certain grounds; and Native Title Act 1993
to replace the mandatory requirement for the Social Justice Commissioner to provide an annual report to the minister with a discretion to report when he or she sees fit.
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- Date
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09 Feb 2017
- Chamber
-
House of Representatives
- Status
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Act
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Portfolio
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Health
- Summary
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Amends the
Health Insurance Act 1973
to: provide for the appointment and functions of a National Rural Health Commissioner to develop and advise the minister responsible for rural health on a National Rural Generalist Pathway; provide for the commissioner’s office to cease on 1 July 2020, when the commissioner’s functions will be complete; abolish the Medical Training Review Panel; and remove the requirement for reviews of the Medicare provider number legislation.
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- Date
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24 Nov 2016
- Chamber
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House of Representatives
- Status
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Act
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Portfolio
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Environment and Energy
- Summary
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Introduced with the Hazardous Waste (Regulation of Exports and Imports) Levy Bill 2016, the bill amends the
Hazardous Waste (Regulation of Exports and Imports) Act 1989
to: enable full cost recovery under the hazardous waste permit scheme; remove the requirement for particulars of certain export applications to be specified in the regulations prior to a decision being made; remove the requirement to specify the place of export in a Basel export permit; remove the $8000 cap on the prescribed fee amount for permit applications; enable indexation of permit fees; provide that certain permit and application information currently required to be published in the Commonwealth Gazette will instead be published on the Department of Environment and Energy’s website; introduce new permit and notification arrangements for the bringing of hazardous waste into Australia; enable the minister to delegate any or all of his or her functions and powers under the Act to Executive Level 2 employees; remove the text of the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal; provide that permit applications must be accompanied by a levy; and make consequential amendments.
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- Date
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24 Nov 2016
- Chamber
-
House of Representatives
- Status
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Act
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Portfolio
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Environment and Energy
- Summary
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Introduced with the Hazardous Waste (Regulation of Exports and Imports) Amendment Bill 2016, the bill imposes a levy on hazardous waste permit applications under the
Hazardous Waste (Regulation of Exports and Imports) Act 1989
.
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- Date
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15 Sep 2016
- Chamber
-
House of Representatives
- Status
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Act
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Portfolio
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Indigenous Affairs
- Summary
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Amends: five Acts to provide for grants to higher education providers to assist Indigenous students; the
Higher Education Support Act 2003
to enable the secretary to be notified of tax file numbers (TFNs) for the purpose of administering student assistance under the VET FEE-HELP scheme; the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936
to enable the use and disclosure of TFNs by Commonwealth officers for the purposes of administering VET FEE-HELP; and the Social Security Act 1991
and Student Assistance Act 1973
to make consequential amendments.
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- Date
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22 Oct 2015
- Chamber
-
House of Representatives
- Status
-
Act
-
Portfolio
-
- Summary
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Amends the
Higher Education Support Act 2003
to: enable certain New Zealand citizens who are Special Category Visa holders to be eligible for HELP assistance from 1 January 2016; enable Torrens University Australia to be eligible for equivalent funding support as all other private Australian universities; update the name of the University of Ballarat to Federation University Australia; and confirm the relevant heads of constitutional power for other grants; Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency Act 2011
to remove the requirement for the commissioners to prepare annual operational plans; and Australian Research Council Act 2001
to: apply indexation adjustments for existing schemes for the financial years starting 1 July 2015 and 2016; set additional funding caps for the financial years starting 1 July 2017 and 2018; and remove the requirement for the Australian Research Council to prepare corporate plans.
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- Date
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15 Oct 2015
- Chamber
-
House of Representatives
- Status
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Act
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Portfolio
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Education and Training
- Summary
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Amends the
Higher Education Support Act 2003
to: require VET FEE-HELP approved training providers to develop and apply appropriate student entry procedure requirements; require students under the age of 18 to seek their parent’s approval before requesting a VET FEE-HELP loan; broaden the circumstances in which a student can seek a re-credit of their VET FEE-HELP loan debt balance and remission of a debt; add to the eligibility criteria required for admitting new VET providers to the VET-FEE-HELP loan scheme; provide for an infringement notice scheme with a civil penalty regime for VET providers who engage in inappropriate marketing behaviours and administrative practices; extend the Commonwealth and national VET Regulator’s powers with respect to monitoring and investigation; and make consequential amendments.
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- Date
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17 Sep 2015
- Chamber
-
House of Representatives
- Status
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Act
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Portfolio
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Health
- Summary
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Amends the:
Healthcare Identifiers Act 2010
, Health Insurance Act 1973
, National Health Act 1953
and Personally Controlled Electronic Health Records Act 2012
to change the name of the Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record system to the My Health Record system; Copyright Act 1968
, Healthcare Identifiers Act 2010
, Personally Controlled Electronic Health Records Act 2012
and Privacy Act 1988
to: trial opt-out arrangements in selected regions and enable opt-out to occur nationally if the trials are successful; abolish the Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record Jurisdictional Advisory Committee and Independent Advisory Council; revise the way that permissions to collect, use and disclose information are presented; create new civil and criminal penalties and provide that enforceable undertakings and injunctions are available in both the healthcare identifiers service or the My Health Record system; clarify that information about healthcare provider organisations is not personal information; clarify that health-related disability, palliative care and aged care services are considered health services; and clarify mandatory data breach notification requirements for participants in the system; and Health Insurance Act 1973
, National Health Act 1953
and Personally Controlled Electronic Health Records Act 2012
to make consequential amendments.
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Bills lists
All bills before Parliament for the current calendar year and details of their progress.
Parliamentary Library analysis of bills, including the purpose, background and key issues.
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.
Legislative instruments subject to a notice of motion to disallow. The progress and eventual outcome of any such notice is also recorded.
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.
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