Senate Finance and Public Administration Legislation Committee, , 34:10 to 44:57
The committee examines the workload, staffing levels, and funding requests for the Senate's non-government legislative drafting services amid fluctuating demand.
Topics: Public service staffing, Government spending
Speakers: Mr Henry Pike, Hon James McGrath, Speaker 3, Unknown Speaker
>> Uh Clark, I'm moving on. I'd like to touch on the workload of your drafting team and a big hello and thank you to them. Um and this is something that you went into some detail in your paper that was submitted to the Senate Appropriation Staffing and Security Committee report drafting services for non-government senators. that was also that was tabled on the 21st of October um 2025 and this issue is also mentioned in your department of senate's annual report which you just touched upon. How many staff do you currently have on the drafting team?
>> Um we have around 11 staff and um some others in the department who contribute from time to time. So we we have 11 staff who are actively involved in drafting. Um but that is they spend a proportion of their time doing drafting. That's not their sole well for some people it's their sole role but for other people that's one of a range of procedural tasks that they undertake. Um and over the years we've uh dedicated a greater proportion of you know involved more staff and a greater proportion of the the time of those staff in um drafting.
>> So how many full-time equivalents would uh allocated to to drafting per se? I I
would have to take that on notice and I'm not sure what how the proportions all stack up and it it's it's quite variable as well um depending on the um the the uh level of legislative activity that's being undertaken. Um staff are drafting both legislative amendments and private senators bills. Um, and we also have some staff who are undertaking administrative roles in support of that drafting activity, but they're not drafting themselves. But I can get someone to provide the latest details of
>> Thank you. And has has the number changed from the last parliament to say
the same. Although I think we um we now use a couple of staff who are not in that office to help out with some drafting particularly private senators bills when um when they have capacity. So that's probably ticked it up slightly from the previous um previous
parliament. So are those staff are they secundered from another department or like office?
>> No, our staff we have one um senior drafter who secondered from the office of parliamentary council but the other staff are all ours.
>> Okay. So just one from OPC. >> okay. Um how many requests for drafting assistance did the department receive 202526?
I think what we've got is more in the because we don't go to advice about um interactions directly with with senators. So the statistics that we've tended to rely on as indicative of the level of um drafting demand has been around what's been circulated and what's been drafted but not circulated. So in terms of not numbers of requests for things but num but but the output. >> Okay, that's fine. Um so in in 2025 26 um 794 committed the whole amendments that were circulated in the Senate. So that's around 800 and that's down from nearly,00 last year the previous year. private senators bills introduced be 31 in the um most recent financial year up slightly from 29 the year before. Um but we've also um drafted uh an additional uh 165 committee the whole amendments that were not proceeded with not circulated. Um that's down from uh 2425. 2425 was was the high water mark. There was something like well there were,079 committee the whole amendments circulated and about half of that again in terms of amendments that we we drafted but senators then chose not to proceed with. So that was very much the high water mark. Um this first year of the current parliament has come back down to um averages that we were seeing three or four years ago. >> Who knows what this year will hold.
>> Okay. Ju just so so we can see a trend. You can take this on notice. You mentioned, you know, the last financial year and the previous one. Can you go back the previous two years if that makes sense? On notice is is fine. Um if
you um I I think there's a in the procedure office chapter of the annual report. Um there's a table on page 50 >> that um that shows the the recent demand in in relation to all those statistics. If you wanted us to go back further then >> no it's fine >> then we can.
>> What is the average turnaround time once you receive a request for for drafting?
>> I think that's a how long is a piece of string question center. depends entirely on the complexity of the um request, the complexity of the legislation that people are seeking to amend. Um also the urgency if if we're getting a request for and and we like this, by the way, if we're getting a request for amendments to be drafted to a bill that's not expected to come up for, you know, five or six weeks because it's before a committee or something like that. um we won't make it the most urgent priority, but we will turn to it as quickly as we can. Whereas if um a report is tableabling tomorrow and a complex complex bill is due to be dealt with by the Senate on the next sitting day, we'll obviously work to turn those things around more quickly.
Are you aware of any requests that have been delayed because of I suppose a a demand on the services that are provided um the office and we all love the work the office does. So it's not a criticism of this office or those in this office. It's just
>> they're terrific.
>> It's a supply and demand issue. Um h have you been are you aware of any any requests have been delayed because of insufficient capacity within the office?
>> Uh absolutely senator and I don't really look at it as something that could be solved in many cases by more capacity because it's more about the the timing of um legislative action in the Senate. Um there there have been many occasions on which um a broad range of senators would like to have a large number of amendments to a bill that the the government and the senate in its wisdom decides has to be dealt with by Tuesday lunchtime um which people might not have been expecting to be be dealt with. So, we ask people to um prioritize the their requests so that we can draft the ones that they either think will be successful or the the ones that they um think are key to their um policy positions. Um but it's not always going to be possible to meet people's um demands and I don't think that that um turns on whether we could import another
did the Department of the Senate seek additional funding to expand drafting services for non non-government senators as part of the 2023 24 budget?
>> I think that was the year that we did. Yes, Senator. and uh the um the budget bid was not met >> which is why we've continued to to uh adopt our practice of trying to bring more people who are already within the department to focus on drafting where they have
>> Were you told what the justification was for declining the additional resources?
Um I think it was reported in the appropriations and staffing committee report on on that um budget, but it was really around um uh recommending that um that the department reallocate resources to meet that need which I think is a fairly standard thing that governments say to um public sector agencies.
President, do you did you advocate to the government to support the um additional resources sought by u the clark?
>> Well, the the um budget submission doesn't go forward unless I support it. So, yes,
>> you did support it. Excellent. So, you were disappointed that it wasn't
I don't think I had high expectations. Um I mean budget bids go forward, governments make decisions um it got reported back to appropriations and um to the credit of the cler and uh the senate team they have managed and it is something the appropriations committee keeps a watch on. We regularly get reports on where that's up to.
>> I I I think you've answered this already, Clark. Has has the department sought additional drafting resources since that particular budget request?
>> I don't think so. Not since that that date. We we didn't at the beginning of um this parliament um on on our experience that the first year of a new parliament usually has a lower level of legislative activity than um subsequent years. Um and that was shown to be uh correct. We'll see how we travel in this second year of the 48th Parliament.