Legislative drafting and publishing
The Australian Government Attorney-General’s Department is not responsible for drafting of Bills for Commonwealth Acts, which is done by the Office of Parliamentary Counsel.
Legislative drafting
The Australian Government Attorney General’s Department is responsible for the drafting of instruments that are legally effective and of high quality, in a plain English style. It is directly funded to draft all Commonwealth Regulations, Proclamations and Rules of Court.
Other legislative and non-legislative instruments are drafted on a fee-for-service basis. Some drafting of legislation for other countries is also done, usually as part of an aid package arranged by AusAID. The Department also provides advice about drafting and statutory interpretation.
Publication of legislation and related material
The Australian Government Attorney-General's Department is responsible for
- managing the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments
- registering legislative instruments and delivering them to Parliament for tabling
- compiling Commonwealth legislation and publishing it on the ComLaw database
- arranging for Commonwealth legislation to be printed and made available for sale, and
- publishing the Government Notices Gazette.