Legislative Assembly
Parliament of
Fact Sheet 13
Tracking Legislation on the Internet
Parliament’s
website provides a wide range of information.
One useful feature is the ability to track the progress of bills
(proposed legislation). You can find out
what laws Parliament is proposing, the status of legislation and what members
say about a bill.
Parliament’s internet site is www.parliament.vic.gov.au.
Each link features a series of drop-down boxes, under which you will
find useful information.
Notice paper
To find the agenda for the Legislative Assembly (Lower
House) or the Legislative Council (Upper House) check the notice papers for
each House. The notice papers list
business in progress for each House.
The order business is listed in is a useful guide but,
during a sitting day, items can be called forward or postponed.
:
[Choose
Legislative Council or Legislative Assembly] → Documents → Chamber
Documents → Notice Papers → [Select relevant day]
Business to be considered is listed under the headings
‘Government Business’ and ‘General Business’.
Within each of these categories ‘Orders of the Day’ and ‘Notices of
Motion’ are shown separately.
For Government bills which have already been
introduced and are at a stage where they may be considered further, check the
details under the headings ‘Government Business’ ‘Orders of the Day’. Bills
which cannot be considered until future dates are listed later in the notice paper
under the heading ‘Business Listed for Future Days’ and this can be found
towards the back of the notice paper.
An extract from a notice paper
|
GOVERNMENT BUSINESS ORDERS OF THE
DAY
1 EDUCATION AND TRAINING AMENDMENT
BILL 2008 — Second reading. 2 ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION AMENDMENT (LANDFILL LEVIES) BILL 2008 — Second reading — Resumption of debate (Ms Green). 3 LAND (REVOCATION OF RESERVATIONS) BILL 2008 — Second reading — Resumption of debate (Mr Langdon). |
Minutes
You can also find the minutes of both Houses. In the Assembly these are called Votes and Proceedings. They are the official record of decisions
made on a particular day.
: [Choose Legislative Council or Legislative Assembly]
→ Documents → Chamber Documents → [Choose Minutes or Votes
and Proceedings] → [Choose relevant day]
For more information on the Votes and Proceedings, see Fact
Sheet 35: Votes and Proceedings.
Assembly Abridged
Assembly Abridged is a
summary of each sitting day in the Assembly, listing key decisions, documents,
progress on legislation and debate.
: Legislative Assembly → Documents
→ Chamber Documents → Assembly Abridged → [Choose relevant day]
Bills
Once
a bill has had its second reading the introduction print becomes available on
Parliament’s website. The explanatory memorandum is also available and gives a
useful explanation of the bill.
:
Legislation &
Bills → Parliamentary Documents → Bills → [Choose relevant
bill]
If
amendments are made to the bill before it is sent to the second House, another
version is produced called the amended print. This will also be available
online. Amendments proposed are available online, even if they are not agreed
to.
Online bills
Bills status list
The
bills status list provides the names and status of all bills before Parliament
at the end of each sitting day. The list is cumulative for each sitting period.
:
Legislation &
Bills → Parliamentary Documents → Bills Status List → [Choose
relevant day]
Extract from a Bills Status List
|
Short Title |
Status in Assembly |
Status in Council |
Assent Date |
Act No |
|
Motor Car Traders Amendment
Bill 2007 |
passed |
passed 26/2 |
4/3 |
4/08 |
|
Police
Integrity Bill 2008 |
passed 9/4 |
2nd reading moved 10/4 |
|
|
Bill status report
If
your interest is in tracking a particular bill, it is quicker to use the status
report for the specific bill. The status report also includes direct links to
the second reading speech and statement of compatibility for the bill.
:
Legislation &
Bills → Parliamentary Documents → Bills → [Choose relevant
bill]
Example of a status report — Motor Car
Traders Amendment Bill 2007
|
First House Details: Legislative Assembly |
||
|
First |
||
|
Introduced By: |
Mr A Robinson |
|
|
First Reading Passed Date: |
|
|
|
Click Here to View the Statement
of Compatibility |
||
|
Second |
||
|
Date Moved: |
|
|
|
Click Here to View the Second |
||
|
|
Under the Government Business
Program agreed to by the House |
|
|
Second |
Passed |
|
|
Date: |
|
|
Third |
||
|
Date Moved: |
|
|
|
Third |
Passed |
|
|
Date: |
|
|
|
Message to Second House |
||
|
Date: |
|
|
|
Second House Details:
Legislative Council |
|
|
Message Received |
|
|
Date: |
|
|
First |
|
|
Introduced By: |
Hon. Justin Madden |
|
First Reading Passed Date: |
|
|
Click Here to View the Statement
of Compatibility |
|
|
Second |
|
|
Date Moved: |
|
|
Click Here to View the Second |
|
|
|
Debate resumed |
|
Second |
Passed |
|
Date: |
|
|
Third |
|
|
Date Moved: |
|
|
Third |
Passed |
|
Date: |
|
|
Royal Assent |
|
|
Date: |
|
|
Act Number: |
4/2008 |
For an explanation of the stages of a bill, see Fact Sheet 2: Stages of a Bill.
Acts
When
a bill is given royal assent it becomes an Act.
The Act becomes operational upon assent, as proclaimed by the Governor
or on a fixed date, or indeed, any combination of these options.
Assent
and proclamation dates are published in the Victorian Government Gazette.
A database of commencement dates from 1958 onwards is
available on the website of the Office of Chief Parliamentary Counsel.
:
www.ocpc.vic.gov.au → Acts Commencement Information
Current legislation
At royal assent the Act appears in the Statute Book on
the website. The Statute Book contains,
by years, the original versions of Acts passed and regulations made.
:
Legislation &
Bills → Victorian Statute Book → [List Acts by title or List Statutory Rules by title] → [Choose relevant year] → [Choose relevant Act/statutory rule]
Acts are amended frequently.
To ensure you are using the latest version, which includes all operative
amendments, use the Law Today option.
Acts and statutory rules are stored alphabetically.
:
Legislation &
Bills → Victorian Law Today → [Select Acts or Statutory Rules and
click the relevant letter] → [Select the Act or statutory rule]
Victorian Law
Today
Archives
Parliamentary documents
from sitting periods back to 1996 are available.
:
Legislation &
Bills → Parliamentary Documents → Archive → [select relevant
document from menu on left] → [select sitting period]
Hansard
Hansard records what is said during the
debates in the Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council. It is not an exact
word for word account of everything that was said, but
it is an accurate representation of speeches and statements with corrections
made for redundancies, obvious grammatical errors, slips of the tongue and
factual errors.
Hansard produces two versions of the
debates. Daily Hansard, a proof
version, is available by
:
Hansard records
from 1991 onwards can be searched online by selecting the Hansard link on
Parliament’s website.
Hansard search screen
Issued by the Clerk of the Legislative Assembly, May 2008
Fact Sheets
The Legislative Assembly Procedure Office
has produced a series of Fact Sheets that explain parliamentary procedure and
terminology. All Fact Sheets are available on Parliament’s website www.parliament.vic.gov.au or through the Procedure
Office. Contact Details
Procedure Office, Legislative Assembly,
Parliament House, Spring Street, Phone No: 03
9651 8563 Fax No: 03 9650 7245 Email: assembly@parliament.vic.gov.au |