Legislative Assembly
Parliament of
Fact Sheet 9
Messages
Background
A
method is needed for the Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council to
communicate with each other, and for communication between the Governor and the
Assembly. The longstanding procedure is
for all such communication to be by formal messages.
Communication between the Houses
Joint Standing Order 1 of the Legislative Council and the Legislative
Assembly states that ‘communications between the Legislative Council and the
Legislative Assembly will be by written message’.
A
message usually relates to bills or resolutions of either House to which the
agreement of the other House is requested.
For example, when a bill has passed all stages in the Assembly, it is
sent to the Council with a message to advise the Council of the bill’s passage,
and requesting the House’s agreement to the bill.
A message from one House to the other relates only to
one matter. As soon as a matter has been
completed, a message will be prepared and delivered to the other House. The Serjeant-at-Arms delivers messages from
the Assembly to the Usher of the Black Rod.
Messages sent from the Council are, in turn, delivered by the Usher of
the Black Rod to the Serjeant-at-Arms. Because messages are only read out by
the Speaker either during formal business at the start of the day or at a
change of business, it is common practice for a number of messages to be read
one after the other, dealing with different items. Messages are recorded in the Votes and Proceedings.
For
further information see:
·
Fact Sheet 1: A Typical
Sitting Day in the House
·
Fact Sheet 19: The
Serjeant-at-Arms
·
Fact Sheet 35: Votes and
Proceedings
Types of message sent between the Houses
There
are two types of message relating to the passage of bills:
·
Sending. The first House attaches a copy of a bill that it has agreed to and sends it to the
other House for consideration and agreement.
·
Returning/advising. The second House notifies the
first House of its decision, for example, that it has agreed to the bill.
For
further information see:
·
Fact Sheet 2: Stages of Bill
In addition, one House may
send a message asking the other House to agree to a resolution, for example,
agreeing that a joint sitting should be held.
Governor’s messages
The
common messages received from the Governor are:
Appropriation. A
proposal in a bill to spend public money is known as an appropriation. Before the Assembly can pass a bill to spend
public money, the appropriation must first be recommended by the Governor in a
message to the Assembly. This
requirement is indicated in Standing Order 88 which states that:
A proposal to appropriate public money cannot proceed
without a message from the Governor to the House in the same session
recommending the appropriation.
Messages from the Governor recommending appropriations
are generally announced in the House during the formal business stage of
proceedings.
Where
an appropriation message is required, it must be presented in the Assembly
before the bill is read a second time.
The exception to this is the case of the Appropriation Bill, commonly
known as the Budget. For the Budget, the
message must be read before the bill is introduced.
Royal Assent. Reflecting
the
Examples of messages
Sending a bill from the Assembly to the Council:
PRESIDENT,
PRAHRAN
MECHANICS’ INSTITUTE AMENDMENT BILL 2007
The Legislative Assembly presents for the
agreement of the Legislative Council a Bill ‘for an Act to amend the Prahran
Mechanics’ Institute Act 1899 and for other purposes’.
SPEAKER
Legislative Assembly
Governor’s
message recommending an appropriation:
From: Professor David de Kretser, AC.,
Governor of
GOVERNOR OF VICTORIA
Message No.
In accordance
with the requirements of section 63 of the Constitution
Act 1975 the Governor recommends to the Legislative Assembly that an
Appropriation be made from the Consolidated Fund for the purposes of the Bill
for an Act to further amend the Heritage Act 1995 and for other
purposes.
GOVERNMENT HOUSE, MELBOURNE, 3004
Issued by the Clerk of the Legislative Assembly, July
2007
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 |