Role of the Committee's scrutiny function
On 19 October 2023, the Legislative Council amended the resolution of the House establishing the Regulation Committee (‘the Committee’) to require it to:
'… from the first sitting day in 2024, consider all instruments of a legislative nature that are subject to disallowance while they are so subject, against the scrutiny principles set out in section 9(1)(b) of the Legislation Review Act 1987'.
Under the amended resolution, the Committee is required to report on such instruments as it thinks necessary and may set out an opinion that an instrument, or portion of an instrument, ought to be disallowed. These reports will appear in the form of a monitor, available on the Legislative Council website and tabled in the House.
Disallowance refers to the process, provided for in the Interpretation Act 1987, by which either House of Parliament may, by resolution, disallow a statutory rule with the effect that the instrument is treated as if it has been repealed and any amendments made by it undone. An instrument may be disallowed if notice of the disallowance resolution is given within 15 sitting days after notice of the rule was tabled in the House.
More information relating to the Regulation Committee's scrutiny function is available via the links below: