A constitutionally important Bill was introduced into the House of Representatives. 

On 5 September 2024, the Parliament Bill was introduced into Parliament by Leader of the House, the Honourable Chris Bishop. The aim of the Bill is to consolidate and modernise the law about Parliament, replacing the four separate Acts that currently regulate the operation of Parliament with one ‘omnibus’ Bill. 

The Bill proposes some key changes to the way that Parliament currently operates; two relating to Parliament and Parliamentary Service itself, and the third relating to MP work-related expenses. We summarise them here:

Stronger powers for parliamentary security 

In a likely response to the 2022 occupation of Parliament grounds by anti-vaccine mandate protestors, the Bill provides stronger powers to Parliamentary Security Officers (PSOs). The Bill proposes giving PSOs statutory powers of consent search, denial of entry, temporary seizure of specified items, and temporary detention. 

These powers would apply in the parliamentary precinct, and in respect of other parliamentary meetings (including select committee meetings) that take place off the precinct. Parliamentary security officers’ powers may also extend to electorate and community offices if authorised by the Chief Executive of the Parliamentary Service. 

Changes to the Parliamentary Service and the Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives

The Bill seeks to improve how the Parliamentary Service and the Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives receive funding. Currently, the two agencies are funded using the same contestable process applied to all other public sector agencies. This has been subject to some criticism in the past, due to concerns that it renders Parliament financially dependent on the government of the day and that the efficiency of some key parliament functions could suffer if funding is cut. 

The Bill provides for a new funding model whereby a parliamentary select committee will recommend appropriations for each parliamentary agency. This approach will recognise that parliamentary agencies are “part of the legislative branch of government, not the executive, and that it is therefore appropriate to have a funding model that does not rely on executive power.” It will ensure that Parliamentary Service and Office of the Clerk remain constitutionally independent. 

The Bill also seeks to remove parliamentary agencies from the employment domain of the Public Service Commissioner. For instance, under the Clerk of the House of Representatives Act 1988, the Clerk of the House of Representatives was required to operate a personnel policy that complied with the Public Service Commissioner’s equal employment opportunities programme. Under the Bill, the agencies own this responsibility, although may adopt the policy developed by the Public Service Commissioner if they choose. 

The Bill also empowers the head of a parliamentary agency to ask prospective employees about political activity they have undertaken to ensure that the person can perform their duties in a politically impartial manner. However, the head of the agency may not ask the applicant about their political affiliations, opinions or views. 

Provision of members’ work-related expenses

The Bill also implements some of the recommendations from the statutory review of the Members of Parliament (Remuneration and Services) Act 2013, presented to the House in 2020. 

The Bill makes several changes to try to make the system for parliamentary work-related expenses more family-friendly, clear, and transparent for members of the public. This includes the creation of principles that the Remuneration Authority, Speaker, and Minister responsible for Ministerial Services must have regard to when making a remuneration determination. 

The principles include:

1. Maintaining confidence in the integrity of Parliament;
2. Promoting transparency in relation to the allocation and use of authorised funding and services;
3. Maintaining the independence of the Remuneration Authority;
4. Recognising the need to be fair to the taxpayer; and
5. Having regard to the requirements of disabled members.

It will be interesting to see if the revised principles will result in a full review of MP remuneration and changes to remuneration for MPs. 

Next steps

The Bill is yet to pass through its first reading, after which it will be referred to a select committee for consideration. 

It is commonly expected that changes to democratic or constitutional systems should be passed through Parliament with cross-party support. While many of the changes contained in this Bill seem to be for consistency and transparency purposes, it remains to be seen whether the Opposition will rally behind these changes at the Bill’s first reading.    

Special thanks to Alice Mander and Sarah Gwynn for their assistance in writing this article.