Amendments
An amendment is a change to a proposed law. Amendments are an important part of the law-making process in the Australian Parliament. This fact sheet outlines the amendment process.
What will I learn?
· Amendments are proposed changes to bills or Acts of Parliament.
· Parliament debates and votes on amendments.
Curriculum alignment
Year 6 ACHASSK146
Year 8 ACHCK063
What is an amendment? 
The usual path of a bill.
Parliamentary Education Office (peo.gov.au)
The usual path of a bill.
Parliamentary Education Office (peo.gov.au)
Description
This diagram illustrates the usual path of a bill through the Australian Parliament to become Australian law.
In the House of Representatives a bill goes through the following stages:
- 1st reading—the bill is introduced to the House of Representatives.
- 2nd reading—members debate and vote on the main idea of the bill.
- House committee (optional stage)—public inquiry into the bill and reporting back to the House.
- Consideration in detail (optional stage)—members discuss the bill in detail, including any changes to the bill.
- 3rd reading—members vote on the bill in its final form.
The bill is passed in the House of Representatives and sent to the Senate.
Senate referral—the Senate may refer the text of the bill to a Senate committee for inquiry (this can happen while the bill is in the House).
In the Senate a bill goes through the following stages:
- 1st reading—the bill is introduced to the Senate.
- 2nd reading—senators debate and vote on the main idea of the bill.
- Senate committee (optional stage)—public inquiry into the bill and reporting back to the Senate.
- Committee of the whole (optional stage)—senators discuss the bill in detail, including any changes to the bill.
- 3rd reading—senators vote on the bill in its final form.
- The bill is passed in the Senate.
The bill is given Royal Assent—The Governor-General signs the bill.
The bill becomes an Act of Parliament—a law for Australia.
Copyright information
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
You are free to share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work.
Attribution – you must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work).
Non-commercial – you may not use this work for commercial purposes.
No derivative works – you may not alter, transform, or build upon this work.
Waiver – any of the above conditions can be waived if you get permission from the copyright holder.
The usual path of a bill.
Parliamentary Education Office (peo.gov.au)
The usual path of a bill.
Parliamentary Education Office (peo.gov.au)
Description
This diagram illustrates the usual path of a bill through the Australian Parliament to become Australian law.
In the House of Representatives a bill goes through the following stages:
- 1st reading—the bill is introduced to the House of Representatives.
- 2nd reading—members debate and vote on the main idea of the bill.
- House committee (optional stage)—public inquiry into the bill and reporting back to the House.
- Consideration in detail (optional stage)—members discuss the bill in detail, including any changes to the bill.
- 3rd reading—members vote on the bill in its final form.
The bill is passed in the House of Representatives and sent to the Senate.
Senate referral—the Senate may refer the text of the bill to a Senate committee for inquiry (this can happen while the bill is in the House).
In the Senate a bill goes through the following stages:
- 1st reading—the bill is introduced to the Senate.
- 2nd reading—senators debate and vote on the main idea of the bill.
- Senate committee (optional stage)—public inquiry into the bill and reporting back to the Senate.
- Committee of the whole (optional stage)—senators discuss the bill in detail, including any changes to the bill.
- 3rd reading—senators vote on the bill in its final form.
- The bill is passed in the Senate.
The bill is given Royal Assent—The Governor-General signs the bill.
The bill becomes an Act of Parliament—a law for Australia.
Copyright information
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
You are free to share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work.
Attribution – you must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work).
Non-commercial – you may not use this work for commercial purposes.
No derivative works – you may not alter, transform, or build upon this work.
Waiver – any of the above conditions can be waived if you get permission from the copyright holder.
An amendment is a change to a bill – a proposed law. Amendments allow for bills to be changed as they progress through the Parliament.
Amendments are discussed and voted on in Parliament, in the same way that bills are. Amendments can be introduced in either the Senate or the House of Representatives, and must be agreed to by both.
The process of amending a bill
Any member of parliament can suggest an amendment to a bill. This is called 'moving an amendment'. An amendment must be submitted in writing to the Clerk of the Senate or House. The Clerk then distributes copies so that everyone can read the amendment and decide if they agree or disagree with it. Members of parliament can then debate and vote for or against the amendment.
Consideration in detail and committee of the whole
Changes to bills are often suggested during the law-making process. Amendments to bills are most often considered during committee of the whole in the Senate or consideration in detail in the House of Representatives. During these stages members of parliament are given all suggested amendments to a bill, can speak about each amendment and vote for or against each amendment.
Speeches on amendments during committee of the whole and consideration in detail are usually shorter than during debates on bills and members may speak more than once.
Restrictions on amending bills
According to section 53 of the Australian Constitution, the Senate cannot amend money or taxation bills. It may only request that the House of Representatives amend such bills.
Amending an Act of Parliament
An Act of Parliament – an existing law – can also be amended if members of parliament want to make improvements, correct a problem or update that law.
To change an Act, an amendment bill must be introduced, debated and voted on by Parliament in the same way that other bills are decided. If the amendment bill is passed, the title of the original Act then includes the word 'amendment', for example, the Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Act 2017.
