The Australian Government has made changes to functions overseen by the Attorney-General's Department and Department of Home Affairs. These changes involve the transfers of:

  • identity and biometrics functions into the Attorney-General's Department
  • protective security policy and government and major event security functions to the Department of Home Affairs.

Legislative design and scrutiny

The department has a whole-of-government responsibility for issues relating to legislation in key areas such as clearer Commonwealth laws, constitutional law, international law, human rights law, administrative law, criminal law, information law, private international law, federal courts and federal jurisdiction.

The department is committed to working with agencies including the Office of Parliamentary Counsel (OPC) to develop laws that are clear, fair, simple, effective, principles-based and consistent with our Constitution and human rights obligations.

The following guides may be of assistance:

Further information about legislation design and drafting is available from the OPC website.

Instructing agencies may particularly benefit from OPC's drafting directions series, including Drafting Direction 4.2 Referral of Drafts to Agencies, which identifies the agencies to be consulted in relation to provisions of particular kinds.

Related links

Developing clearer Commonwealth laws
Guide to framing Commonwealth offences, infringement notices and enforcement po…
Public sector guidance sheets on human rights obligations
Tools for assessing human rights compatibility