❓ Hon Rick Mazza questions the Attorney General regarding resource limitations impacting the Parliamentary Counsel's Office's ability to draft private members' bills. The Attorney General acknowledges significant drafting capacity loss since April 2017 and outlines measures taken to address the issue.
AnsweredQoN 936Legislative Council
Asked
11 October 2018
Member
Portfolio
Leader of the House representing the Attorney General
QuestionView source ↗
LEGISLATIVE DRAFTING
SERVICES — PRIVATE MEMBERS' BILLS
936. Hon RICK MAZZA to the Leader of the House representing
the Attorney General:
I refer to President Doust's
statement in the Legislative Council on 14 August 2018 and Speaker Watson's
statement in the Legislative Assembly on 9 October 2018 regarding the drafting
of private members' bills.
(1) For how long
has the Parliamentary Counsel's Office been unable to provide
assistance in drafting new private members' bills?
(2) When does the government
anticipate current drafting pressures will be alleviated?
(3) How many private members'
bills is the Parliamentary Counsel's Office currently drafting?
(4) Who is responsible for the
resource limitations on the Parliamentary Counsel's Office?
(5) Does the
Parliamentary Counsel's Office require more staff to meet the workload;
and, if so, what measures are being taken to increase resources?
SERVICES — PRIVATE MEMBERS' BILLS
936. Hon RICK MAZZA to the Leader of the House representing
the Attorney General:
I refer to President Doust's
statement in the Legislative Council on 14 August 2018 and Speaker Watson's
statement in the Legislative Assembly on 9 October 2018 regarding the drafting
of private members' bills.
(1) For how long
has the Parliamentary Counsel's Office been unable to provide
assistance in drafting new private members' bills?
(2) When does the government
anticipate current drafting pressures will be alleviated?
(3) How many private members'
bills is the Parliamentary Counsel's Office currently drafting?
(4) Who is responsible for the
resource limitations on the Parliamentary Counsel's Office?
(5) Does the
Parliamentary Counsel's Office require more staff to meet the workload;
and, if so, what measures are being taken to increase resources?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the honourable member for
some notice of the question.
(1) The current
pressure on the Parliamentary Counsel's Office's resources
means that PCO is unable to assist with private members' bills when the
drafting work would be extensive. However, it is still able to provide
assistance to private members for the drafting of relatively uncomplicated
private members' bills and amendments to bills currently before the
Parliament. Since April 2017, PCO has suffered from a significant loss of
drafting capacity for a variety of reasons outside the office's control
and not as a result of budget repair or savings measures imposed by the
government. PCO has successfully recruited a number of new drafters, but most
have no prior drafting experience. It takes many years for newly hired drafters
to be fully trained. This has meant that a significant training and supervision
overhead has fallen on the small number of remaining senior drafters who are
also extremely busy drafting the government's most complex and urgent
legislation. Because of this, the current number of new recruits is considered
to be the maximum number that PCO can take on at this time. Experienced
drafters are a scarce resource across the English-speaking world. Extensive
attempts to recruit or second experienced drafters from other jurisdictions
have so far resulted in the recruitment of only one experienced drafter, who
will start work at PCO in November 2018. PCO continues to engage four retired
PCO drafters on contract to provide drafting services. These drafters are
available only part-time and in one case only for a specific project. The
government has also made extra funding available to PCO to engage experienced
interstate legislative drafters on contract to supplement PCO's
drafting resources. Three contract drafters are currently engaged. None of
these drafters can contribute to the training and supervision of more junior
drafters because of their limited availability or because, in the case of the
interstate drafters, they work remotely. Most of the drafting resources
available to PCO are fully engaged with meeting the government's
requirements for legislation—both bills and subsidiary legislation—and
training and supervising the newly recruited staff.
(2) Please refer to (1).
(3) The PCO is currently drafting
three private members' bills.
(4)–(5) Please refer to (1).
some notice of the question.
(1) The current
pressure on the Parliamentary Counsel's Office's resources
means that PCO is unable to assist with private members' bills when the
drafting work would be extensive. However, it is still able to provide
assistance to private members for the drafting of relatively uncomplicated
private members' bills and amendments to bills currently before the
Parliament. Since April 2017, PCO has suffered from a significant loss of
drafting capacity for a variety of reasons outside the office's control
and not as a result of budget repair or savings measures imposed by the
government. PCO has successfully recruited a number of new drafters, but most
have no prior drafting experience. It takes many years for newly hired drafters
to be fully trained. This has meant that a significant training and supervision
overhead has fallen on the small number of remaining senior drafters who are
also extremely busy drafting the government's most complex and urgent
legislation. Because of this, the current number of new recruits is considered
to be the maximum number that PCO can take on at this time. Experienced
drafters are a scarce resource across the English-speaking world. Extensive
attempts to recruit or second experienced drafters from other jurisdictions
have so far resulted in the recruitment of only one experienced drafter, who
will start work at PCO in November 2018. PCO continues to engage four retired
PCO drafters on contract to provide drafting services. These drafters are
available only part-time and in one case only for a specific project. The
government has also made extra funding available to PCO to engage experienced
interstate legislative drafters on contract to supplement PCO's
drafting resources. Three contract drafters are currently engaged. None of
these drafters can contribute to the training and supervision of more junior
drafters because of their limited availability or because, in the case of the
interstate drafters, they work remotely. Most of the drafting resources
available to PCO are fully engaged with meeting the government's
requirements for legislation—both bills and subsidiary legislation—and
training and supervising the newly recruited staff.
(2) Please refer to (1).
(3) The PCO is currently drafting
three private members' bills.
(4)–(5) Please refer to (1).
Explore WA Government Data
Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.
Explore more
Government Gazette
Appointments, regulatory notices, planning changes.
Hansard
Debates, questions, speeches and sentiment.
Tabled Papers
Reports and documents tabled in Parliament.
Committees
Committee profiles and recent reports.
Regulations
Subsidiary legislation with filters and summaries.
Bills
Proposed laws and parliamentary progress.
Acts
Current WA legislation and summaries.
Explanatory Memoranda
Bills with EMs (text/PDF) available.
Members
MP profiles, party breakdown and rankings.
Pollie Rankings
Data-driven rankings across 19 categories.
Amendment Chains
Track how schemes and regulations evolve over time.