Private Member's Bill - Australia

Australia

In Australia, a draft bill is prepared by Parliamentary Counsel, acting under instructions from the private member. After community consultation, the member introduces the bill into the Parliament.

Only 15 private member's bills or private senator's bills introduced into the Australian Parliament since 1901 have been passed into law. Of these, eight have been initiated by senators and seven by members. A larger number have passed one house but not the other. An even larger number did not pass the house in which they were introduced and thus lapsed.

Among the most notable of the successful bills was the Commonwealth Electoral Bill 1924, which introduced compulsory voting for federal elections. This was introduced by Senator for Tasmania Herbert Payne of the Nationalist Party on 16 July 1924, passed by the Senate on 23 July, passed by the House of Representatives on 24 July - both times with little debate - and given Royal Assent on 31 July. Despite much public debate ever since on the issue of compulsory voting, the legislation has never been repealed.

Another very notable private member's bill was the Euthanasia Laws Bill 1996, which deprived the Northern Territory, Australian Capital Territory and Norfolk Island legislatures of the power to make laws permitting euthanasia. This was introduced by Kevin Andrews, Member for Menzies, after the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly had passed such a law, the Rights of the Terminally Ill Act 1995. Although Andrews was a member of the Liberal Party, members and senators were allowed a conscience vote on the issue, and each side of the debate was supported by members and senators from all political parties.

Notable also was the private member's bill introduced by Alan Corbett in the New South Wales Legislative Council to amend the Crimes Act of 1900. The first successfully enacted (or indeed introduced) bill in over 100 years to address the protection of children from abuse and excessive physical chastisement. It received very wide support from New South Wales organisations related to child health and welfare and was backed by several prominent members of the medical profession, particularly in the paediatric field, notably Dr. John Yu, CEO of Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children, Sydney (who had been honoured by the Australian Government with the prestigious Australian of the Year award in 1996). Its initial aims were to limit physical chastisement by banning the use of implements (belts, sticks, hairbrushes, etc.), ban the use of force above the shoulders (thus preventing neck, head, brain and facial injuries), and require that any physical force applied leave only trivial and short-lived signs such as redness (that is, no bruising, swelling, welts, cuts, grazes, internal injuries, emotional trauma, etc.); with the exception of the clause banning the use of implements (which was dropped to gain essential support from the state Labor Government for the bill), it was passed intact and became law in 2001.

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