Guidelines to promote good legislative standards

The Legislation Design and Advisory Committee is responsible for the Legislation Guidelines (2021 edition) which are a guide to making good legislation.

The Guidelines have been adopted by Cabinet as the government's key point of reference for assessing whether draft legislation is consistent with accepted legal and constitutional principles.

They are a valuable resource for public officials and government lawyers and provide advice and direction about the process of developing legislation and the need for new laws to maintain consistency with basic legal principles.

Also available: a summary of the changes to the new edition

Advising on legislative design

The Legislation Design and Advisory Committee advises departments in the initial stages of developing legislation when legislative proposals and drafting instructions are being prepared.

It advises on basic framework/design issues and consistency with fundamental legal and constitutional principles.

The Committee also assists with the allocation of provisions between primary, secondary and tertiary legislation, and the appropriateness of exposure draft Bills.

Reviewing Bills after introduction

The Legislation Design and Advisory Committee examines government Bills that the Committee has not reviewed before introduction.

The Committee may make submissions to Parliamentary Select Committees on issues of inconsistency with the 2021 Guidelines.

Submissions made to Select Committees are published here.