Terms of Reference

Terms of Reference

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The Senate has referred the following matter to the Standing Committee for the Scrutiny of Bills for inquiry and report by 12 May 2010:

(1) The future direction and role of the Scrutiny of Bills Committee, with particular reference to:

(a) whether its powers, processes and terms of reference remain appropriate;

(b) whether parliamentary mechanisms for the scrutiny and control of delegated legislation are optimal; and

(c) what, if any, additional role the committee should undertake in relation to human rights obligations applying to the Commonwealth. 

(2) In undertaking this inquiry, the committee should have regard to the role, powers and practices of similar committees in other jurisdictions.

(3) The committee be authorised to hold public hearings in relation to this inquiry.

The Committee is seeking written submissions from interested individuals and organisations preferably sent electronically by email to scrutiny.sen@aph.gov.au as an attached PDF or Word format document. The email must include full postal address and contact details.

Alternatively written submissions may be sent to:

Committee Secretary
Senate Standing Committee for the Scrutiny of Bills
PO Box 6100
Parliament House
Canberra  ACT  2600

The Committee has extended the closing date of submission to 6 April 2010.

Submissions become Committee documents and are made public only after a decision by the Committee. Publication of submissions includes loading them onto the internet and their being available to other interested parties including the media. Persons making submissions must not release them without the approval of the Committee. Submissions that become Committee documents are covered by parliamentary privilege but the unauthorised release of them is not protected.

Information relating to Senate Committee inquiries, including notes to assist in the preparation of submissions for a Committee, can be located on the internet at https://www.aph.gov.au/senate/committee/wit_sub/index.htm

For further details please contact the Committee Secretariat by phone: (02) 6277 3050, fax: (02) 6277 5881 or email to scrutiny.sen@aph.gov.au

Enquiries from hearing and speech impaired people should be directed to Parliament House TTY number 02 6277 7799. Adobe also provides tools at http://access.adobe.com/ for the blind and visually impaired to access PDF documents. If you require any special arrangements to enable you to participate in the Committee's inquiry, please contact the Secretariat.

For further information, contact:

Committee Secretary
Senate Standing Committee for the Scrutiny of Bills
PO Box 6100
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
Australia

Phone: +61 2 6277 3050
Fax: +61 2 6277 5881
Email: scrutiny.sen@aph.gov.au