AGY-5060 | Parliamentary Counsel's Office

Full description

The Parliamentary Counsel had been abolished as a department on 3 March 2006. The Parliamentary Counsel's Office was then established as a separate office within the Cabinet Office on 3 March 2006. (1) On 27 April 2007, the Cabinet Office was abolished and all its branches transferred to the re-titled Department of Premier and Cabinet.  The Parliamentary Counsel's Office continued as a separate office within the Department of Premier and Cabinet. (2)

The Parliamentary Counsel's Office was the legislative drafting office for the State of New South Wales. It drafted all Bills required for introduction into Parliament and drafted or settled a wide range of subordinate legislation, including regulations, rules, proclamations, orders and environmental planning instruments. The Office also managed the NSW legislation website, which provides public access to legislation. (3)

The functions of the Office comprised:
1. Drafting Services:
(i) drafting legislation:
(ii) drafting new legislation (including Acts, Regulations and environmental planning instruments)
(iii) drafting amendments to Bills during the Parliamentary process
(iv) drafting explanatory notes to new laws
(v) providing advice and assistance concerning new legislation and legislative policy
(vi) providing a legislative drafting service for non-Government Members of Parliament (under arrangements approved by the Government).
2. Access and Information Services:
(i) providing a complete legislation publishing service to Parliament (including the printing of Bills for introduction into and passage through Parliament and for presentation to the Governor)
(ii) providing online access to legislation on the NSW legislation website (www.legislation.nsw.gov.au)
iii) providing the official online notification of Government Gazettes and the making of new statutory instruments
(iv) source data for legislation to be published on the web. (4)

At the split of the Department of Premier and Cabinet into Premier’s Department [III] and Cabinet Office [II] on 1 July 2023, the Parliamentary Counsel's Office was transferred into Cabinet Office [II]. (5)

Endnotes
1. NSW Government Gazette No.30, 3 March 2006, p.1055.
2. Public Sector Employment and Management (General) Order 2007 in New South Wales Government Gazette No.47, 2 April 2007, p.2102.
3. The Parliamentary Counsel Office website, What we do, https://pco.nsw.gov.au/what-we-do.html, (accessed 16 November 2022).
4. Ibid.
5. Administrative Arrangements (Administrative Changes—Miscellaneous) Order (No 4) 2023 (2023 No 316), Sch.4 (2).