Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister to the Shadow Treasurer) | Hansard source

I present Scrutiny digest 8 of 2026 of the Standing Committee for the Scrutiny of Bills, together with ministerial correspondence received by the committee and the committee's annual report for 2025, and I move:

That the Senate take note of the reports.

As Chair of the Senate Standing Committee for the Scrutiny of Bills, I rise to speak on the tabling of the committee's Scrutiny Digest 8 of 2026 and the committee's annual report for 2025.

The digest contains the committee's consideration of 13 bills introduced and amendments agreed for the period 22 to 25 June 2026. The committee has also concluded its consideration of one previously introduced bill.

I wish to draw senators' attention to a longstanding scrutiny concern raised by the committee where bills provide for legislative instruments to be exempt from disallowance. The committee has recently observed an increase in the frequency with which it has had cause to comment on exemption from disallowance matters.

The committee draws attention to this matter under Senate standing order 24(1)(a)(iv), which requires the committee to scrutinise whether the clauses of bills inappropriately delegate legislative power. Exemption from disallowance is also relevant to the Senate standing order 24(1)(a)(v), under which the committee considers whether bills insufficiently subject the exercise of legislative power to parliamentary scrutiny.

The Constitution establishes a system of responsible and representative government which vests legislative power in the parliament. Disallowance is the primary means by which the parliament exercises control over legislative power delegated to the executive. It is, of course, the process by which either house of the parliament may consider and veto the making of a legislative instrument by the executive, normally within 15 sitting days of it being tabled in that house.

Bills that provide for exemptions from disallowance therefore interfere with the parliament exercising its role as the constitutionally designated law-making body of the Commonwealth. In June 2021, the Senate resolved that delegated legislation should be subject to disallowance unless exceptional circumstances can be shown.

Further, the Senate resolved that any claim that circumstances warrant exemption will be subject to rigorous scrutiny and rarely justified.

The Senate's position is consistent with expectations set out by the committee in its review of the Biosecurity Act 2021 (addressed in Scrutiny digest 7 of 2021). They also reflect the recommendations of the Senate Standing Committee for the Scrutiny of Delegated Legislation inquiry into the exemption of delegated legislation from parliamentary oversight, as tabled in March 2021.

In light of this, the committee's longstanding expectation is for explanatory memoranda to clearly identify the exceptional circumstances said to justify inhibiting parliamentary scrutiny and oversight.

The digest tabled this evening contains an example. The Universities Accord (Opening the Doors of Opportunity) Bill 2026 would exempt from disallowance ministerial determinations setting the number of Commonwealth supported places and international student places that may be allocated by the Australian Tertiary Education Commission over a specified period. The committee has noted that commercial certainty and visa processing implications alone do not amount to the exceptional circumstances necessary to merit exemption from disallowance and has requested further information.

Annual report

I also draw the Senate's attention to the committee's annual report of 2025, which provides an overview of the committee's work for the 2025 calendar year.

This report sets out the significant volume of work the committee undertakes each year, with the assistance of its secretariat and legal adviser. In 2025, the committee considered 170 bills and raised scrutiny concerns in relation to 27 per cent of those bills. The committee also commented on 22 per cent of a total of 37 amendments. These numbers are lower than in previous years, reflecting the dissolution of parliament ahead of the 2025 federal election and the restoration of bills from the 47th Parliament that had not attracted committee comment.

The scrutiny principle raised most frequently by the committee related to whether bills unduly trespass on personal rights and liberties, with 40 per cent of the committee's comments relating to this principle, consistent with previous years.

The annual report also includes case studies illustrating the value of the committee's work. For example, the committee provided the only committee based scrutiny of substantive amendments made to the Social Security and Other Legislation Amendment (Technical Changes No. 2) Bill 2025. This demonstrates the committee's capacity to scrutinise significant or contentious amendments, even where opportunities for scrutiny are constrained.

The annual report also highlights the committee's work in relation to the Environment Protection Reform Bill 2025. The committee met out of session to consider its analysis of the bill in Scrutiny digest 8 of 2025 so that its commentary would be available ahead of committee hearings. Amendments addressing concerns raised by the committee as to the threshold for consistency with national environmental standards were also agreed by the parliament.

These case studies attest to the committee's vital role in supporting the effective parliamentary scrutiny of legislation and the maintenance of the rule of law.

With these comments, I commend the committee's Scrutiny digest 8 of 2026 and the committee's annual report of 2025 to the Senate and, in doing so, extend my compliments for the professionalism and diligence of the committee secretariat and secretary.

Question agreed to.