the drafting of proposed laws for introduction into either House of the Parliament; and
the drafting of amendments of proposed laws that are being considered by either House of the Parliament; and
the drafting of subordinate legislation; and
the preparing of compilations and reprints of, and information relating to, laws of the Commonwealth; and
the publishing, and the making of arrangements for the printing and publishing, of:

laws, and proposed laws, of the Commonwealth; and
compilations and reprints of laws of the Commonwealth; and
information relating to laws of the Commonwealth; and

the preparing and publishing of Government Notices Gazettes, including Special and Periodic Gazettes; and
functions conferred on the Office (or on the First Parliamentary Counsel) under the Legislation Act 2003 and any other laws of the Commonwealth; and
with the written approval of the Minister—the provision of assistance to a foreign country in relation to the drafting, printing or publishing of laws of the country or information relating to those laws; and
functions conferred by the regulations; and
functions incidental to any of the preceding functions.

Services and training

The Office of Parliamentary Counsel (OPC) provides timely, high quality legislative drafting and publication services. These include drafting and advisory services for Commonwealth Bills, legislative, notifiable and other instruments as well as comprehensive public access to Commonwealth legislation through the Federal Register of Legislation website.

The drafters of Bills and instruments work closely together to produce legally effective legislation that is as clear, consistent and precise as possible.

In addition to OPC’s budget-funded drafting work on Bills, regulations, Proclamations, Rules of Court and Territory legislation, OPC also provides other specialist legislation drafting and publishing services on a fee-for-service basis. OPC is available to provide government agencies with drafting, editing, compilation and publication services for legislative, notifiable and other instruments.

OPC also conducts Legislation Process Courses for staff of Australian government agencies to explain the process of developing legislation.

See the Services and Training page for further information.

Staff

OPC has a staff of approximately 100. This consists of 3 statutory officers—the First Parliamentary Counsel and 2 Second Parliamentary Counsel—and staff employed under the Public Service Act 1999. There are approximately 45 drafters, 40 publications and editorial staff and 15 corporate services staff including legislation, finance, administration and IT services.

Corporate objectives

The corporate objectives of OPC are:

to provide a timely and high quality service in the performance of its drafting and publication functions; and
to draft legislation in as clear a style as possible, consistent with maintaining precision; and
to promote the development of new approaches to legislative drafting to reflect changes in legal policy and in the expectations of the community;and
to pursue staff development so that the best use is made of the resources available to OPC and career and advancement opportunities for all staff are enhanced; and
to promote the efficient and effective management of the resources of OPC.

OPC promotes its objectives by, among other things, regularly reviewing its work practices and operating methods to ensure that they:

promote the production of draft legislation that is effective to achieve its purposes and is in a clear style; and
are consistent with speed and efficiency in the work of OPC; and
are consistent with the provision of adequate development opportunities for staff.

OPC continues to develop and implement procedures for making laws easier to read and understand through the use of plain English and other modern drafting techniques.

Corporate Plan

OPC's Corporate Plan sets out our purpose, the strategic activities we will undertake to achieve our purpose and measurable targets for the achievement of these activities over the period of the Plan. A copy of the Corporate Plan is available from the OPC Documents page on this website.

More information

Further information about OPC is available from the OPC Documents page on this website.