Ministerial Responses

Where the committee writes to a minister it expects a response to be received in time to be considered by the committee and reported on while the bill is still before the Parliament.

If the committee has not completed its inquiry due to the failure of a minister to respond to the committee's concerns, Senate standing order 24 enables Senators to ask the responsible minister why the committee has not received a response.

The table below sets out the bills for which the committee has requested a response and the response has either not yet been received or has been received but the committee has not yet finally reported on it. If a bill is likely to be subject to debate in the Senate before the due date set by the committee, the committee expects the response to be provided prior to the debate.

Bills listed in red indicate that the response is outstanding.

Publication of ministerial responses

Where it may assist in providing timely scrutiny of bills before the Senate, the committee may choose to publish (in the table below) ministerial responses together with the committee's preliminary comments on those responses, prior to tabling its regular Scrutiny Digest.

All ministerial and other responses are published online with the relevant Scrutiny Digest after tabling. 

Bill Minister Committee comment Response due Response received
Migration Amendment (Bridging Visa Conditions) Bill 2023
Migration Amendment (Bridging Visa Conditions and Other Measures) Bill 2023
Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs Digest 15 of 2023
22 January 2024* 24 December 2024
Migration Amendment (Prohibiting Items in Immigration Detention Facilities) Bill 2024 Home Affairs Digest 15 of 2024 12 December 2024 18 December 2024
Scams Prevention Framework Bill 2024 Treasury Digest 14 of 2024 12 December 2024* 20 December 2024
Security of Critical Infrastructure and Other Legislation Amendment (Enhanced Response and Prevention) Bill 2024 - House of Representatives Amendments Home Affairs Digest 15 of 2024 12 December 2024  
Treasury Laws Amendment (Mergers and Acquisitions Reform) Bill 2024 Treasury Digest 14 of 2024 5 December 2024 27 November 2024

* Revised due date