Bill status in the Australian Parliament

Stages in the House of Representatives

A bill is a proposal for a law in the form of a draft Act ¹. Government bills are drafted by the Office of Parliamentary Counsel ¹. Bills that appropriate money or impose taxation cannot originate in the Senate ¹.

• First reading: a minister presents the bill with an explanatory memorandum and the Clerk reads the long title ¹.
• Second reading: the minister's speech, then the main debate on principles, usually several sitting days later ¹.
• Consideration in detail: clause-by-clause study, with members speaking up to 5 minutes an unlimited number of times ¹. It can be bypassed if no member objects ¹.
• Third reading: usually a formality, often moved immediately by leave ¹.
• Federation Chamber: a parallel chamber that can take the rest of the second reading and the detail stage ¹.

Stages in the Senate

The bill goes through three readings again in the Senate ¹. In the Senate, the detail stage is called committee of the whole, where senators may speak for up to 10 minutes on any number of occasions ². Senators and members may speak only once in the second reading debate, for up to 15 minutes ².

Section 53 of the Constitution stops the Senate amending certain bills, including bills that impose tax or appropriate revenue ¹. For these, the Senate may request that the House make an amendment instead ¹. Any amendment made by one House must be agreed to by the other ².

Either House may refer a bill to a committee ². The Senate publishes a list of bills currently referred to its committees, with the referral date and reporting date of each ⁵.

Status labels on the Parliament website

The bills search on the Parliament of Australia website files each bill under a status ⁴. On 7 November 2026, the Bills before Parliament page showed 127 total results ⁴.

Deadlock and double dissolution

If the two Houses cannot agree, a bill may be laid aside, which means it is not further pursued ¹. Section 57 of the Constitution sets the steps for a deadlock on a bill from the House of Representatives ³. The Senate must reject the bill, fail to pass it, or pass it with amendments the House will not accept ³. After an interval of three months the House passes it again in the same or the next session, and the Senate again does not pass it ³.

The Governor-General may then dissolve both Houses at once, but not within six months before the House would expire by effluxion of time ³. If the Houses still disagree after the elections, the Governor-General may convene a joint sitting ³. The Parliament notes that in recent times Parliaments have consisted of one session only ³.

From assent to commencement

When a bill has passed both Houses in identical form, the Clerk of the House checks and certifies it and it goes to the Governor-General ¹. The words of assent are "In the name of His Majesty, I assent to this Act" ¹. At that point the bill becomes an Act of Parliament ¹.

An Act may set a date for commencement, the day of a stated event, or a date proclaimed later by the Governor-General ¹. If no commencement date is set, it comes into effect on the 28th day after assent ¹. So a Royal Assent label does not always mean the Act is already in operation.

How many bills pass

The House of Representatives reports that 458 bills were introduced in the 47th Parliament ¹. About 95 per cent originated in the House, about 77 per cent became Acts, and legislation took up some 47 per cent of the House's time ¹. Private senators' bills are dealt with in the Senate in the same way as government bills, though comparatively few pass both Houses ².