29 Legislative Process
It is important to understand how legislation is made. This knowledge will assist you in research tasks such as:
- tracking proposed legislation prior to enactment
- locating parliamentary documents needed in statutory interpretation.
Queensland legislative process
The passage of a Bill through parliament is similar in most common law jurisdictions. One noteworthy difference is that the Queensland Parliament has a unicameral (or one chamber) system as it abolished its Legislative Council in 1922. The diagram below reflects the typical passage of a Bill through the Queensland Parliament rather than the legislative process of a parliament with two houses.
The passage of a Bill through Parliament is similar in most common law jurisdictions. In Queensland, the process is as follows:
- introduced to Parliament by the Minister responsible
- read for the first time — explanatory speech
- proceeds to Committee stage (optional) — consideration and report from the relevant committee
- read for a second time
- moves to consideration in detail — Bill considered clause by clause (amendments can be made at this time)
- read for the third time — agreed to
- considered by another house (in bicameral parliaments)
- receives Royal Assent — and is enacted.
Read more about Queensland’s parliamentary process in the Queensland Legislation Handbook or Queensland Parliament’s Factsheet 3.6 (PDF, 269KB).
Commonwealth legislative process
The Parliament of Australia’s Infosheet 7 Making Laws describes how bills are proposed, considered and passed at a federal level.
Law-making explains the law-making process in the Australian Parliament.
