3.4 Queensland Parliamentary Committees
Submissions to Committees
The Department of the Premier and Cabinet must be consulted on all submissions to Parliamentary Committees. Individual agency submissions should be of a factual nature only and approved by the relevant Minister/s.
If the policy issues cross agencies, ie more than one agency would wish to make a submission on the same policy matter, a whole-of-Government submission must be prepared in consultation with affected agencies. All whole-of-Government submissions to Parliamentary Committees must receive prior Cabinet approval (see also Chapter 8.2.5). Consultation must occur with the Department of the Premier and Cabinet to determine the appropriate department to lead the preparation of the whole-of-Government submission.
Submissions to Parliamentary Committees should be prepared as if they were public documents. These documents should be concise and well-written and acknowledge all relevant Government activity.
Responses to Reports of Committees
When a report of a Parliamentary Committee (excepting the Parliamentary
Scrutiny of Legislation Committee) recommends that action be taken (or not be
taken) by the government or a Minister, the responsible Minister must provide a
response to the Legislative Assembly. The Parliament of Queensland Act
2001 provides that a response must state:
- what recommendations contained in a report are to be adopted and the method
and time-frame for the implementation of the recommendations; and
- what recommendations contained in a report are not to be adopted and the
reasons for not adopting them.
The Parliament of Queensland Act 2001 provides that a Minister must
table a response within three months of the tabling of a Committee's report. If
this proves impracticable, the Minister must table an interim response by way of a letter to the Clerk of the Parliament together
with reasons for the delay. A final response must then be tabled within six
months of the tabling of the report.
All Ministerial responses to reports of Parliamentary Committees must be prepared in consultation with the Department of the Premier and Cabinet and receive Cabinet approval prior to their being tabled in the Legislative Assembly. The format of responses within the submissions will vary depending on the course of action a Minister proposes to take and the policy issues that may need to be resolved in Cabinet. Sufficient time should be allowed for Cabinet consideration of the response and to incorporate any changes post-Cabinet consideration prior to tabling.
Agencies should ensure proposed responses are concise and well-written, and that they acknowledge all relevant Government activity.
Last reviewed: 17 July, 2009
Last updated: 22 July, 2009
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