The Scrutiny of Legislation Committee's area of responsibility as set out in the Parliament of Queensland Act 2001 is to consider:

• the application of fundamental legislative principles to particular Bills and subordinate legislation; and
• the lawfulness of particular subordinate legislation

by examining all Bills and subordinate legislation.

The committee also has a general monitoring role in relation to various matters, including:

• regulatory impact statements;
• explanatory notes; and
• tabling and disallowance of subordinate legislation.

Background

The Scrutiny of Legislation Committee was established on 15 September 1995 pursuant to s.4 of the Parliamentary Committees Act 1995. It now operates under s.103 of the Parliament of Queensland Act 2001.

It is an all-party committee made up of seven Queensland Members of Parliament and is responsible for scrutinising both primary and subordinate legislation.

The committee replaced the Committee of Subordinate Legislation which undertook parliamentary scrutiny of subordinate instruments between 1975 and 1995.

Mode of operation

In respect of the scrutiny of bills, the committee tables a report to Parliament, the "Alert Digest", at the beginning of every sitting week. These digests canvass any concerns that the committee has about the compliance of Bills (introduced into the House in the previous sitting week) with the fundamental legislative principles.

The digests also report ministerial responses to issues raised in earlier digests. The main aim of the alert digests is to provide information to the House in an effort to enhance debate on compliance of legislation with fundamental legislative principles.

The committee also examines subordinate legislation after it is made to assess its compliance with the fundamental legislative principles. Any concerns are raised with the relevant Minister. Most problems are addressed by the provision of additional information or by undertakings from Ministers to introduce amendments to the committee's satisfaction. If an issue remains unresolved, the committee may report to Parliament on the problem and/or move to disallow the instrument in question.

An index listing subordinate legislation about which the committee is currently raising concerns with the relevant Minister is included in the committee's Alert Digest. Once the committee's inquiries have been completed, the correspondence between the committee and the Minister is published in the digest.

Terms of reference

103.(1) The Scrutiny of Legislation Committee's area of responsibility is to consider-

(a) the application of fundamental legislative principles to particular Bills and particular subordinate legislation; and

(b) the lawfulness of particular subordinate legislation;

by examining all Bills and subordinate legislation.

(2) The committee's area of responsibility includes monitoring generally the operation of-

(a) the following provisions of the Legislative Standards Act 1992 -

• section 4 (Meaning of "fundamental legislative principles")
• part 4 (Explanatory notes); and

(b) the following provisions of the Statutory Instruments Act 1992 -

• section 9 (Meaning of "subordinate legislation")
• part 5 (Guidelines for regulatory impact statements)
• part 6 (Procedures after making of subordinate legislation)
• part 7 (Staged automatic expiry of subordinate legislation)
• part 8 (Forms)
• part 10 (Transitional).