Chapter 18 - Documents tabled in the Senate
Types of tabled documents
Committee reports
are presented by the chairs of committees or by other senators acting on behalf
of the chairs.
Documents ordered
to be produced by the Senate are usually tabled by ministers to whom the orders
are directed, but are occasionally provided to the Clerk who then tables them
as contemplated by standing order 164.
Delegated legislation, that is, legislation made by the executive
government or a statutory body under the authority of a statute, must be tabled
in the Senate within a prescribed time. Delegated legislation includes
instruments such as regulations, ordinances, by-laws, determinations, orders
and guidelines. These instruments, which may be disallowed by either House of
the Parliament, are sent to the Clerk of the Senate, who presents them at a
time allocated for the presentation of documents each day. Details of the
documents are entered in the Senate Journals. Although the instruments are
almost invariably presented by the Clerk, there is nothing to prevent a senator
presenting such documents. Procedures relating to delegated legislation are
discussed in detail in Chapter 15, Delegated Legislation.
Many other documents are also tabled pursuant to statute. These include
the annual reports of departments and statutory authorities and annual reports
on the operation of certain statutes. These documents are
tabled by a minister and, together with other documents such as reports of
government-appointed committees of inquiry, are referred to as ‘government
documents’.
Documents presented by the President include reports of the
Auditor-General, responses by Australian and foreign governments to resolutions
of the Senate and various parliamentary publications, such as the annual report
of the Department of the Senate.
An entry is also made in the Journals of the Senate of tabled
documents, and this record, which has a wide circulation, supplies a reference
to the documents presented to the Senate. An index of tabled documents is also
published. (see Supplement)
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