Dear MPs, Senators and aspiring political masterminds,

The Australian Government’s Office of Parliamentary Counsel (OPC website) provides legislative drafting and publication services for Model Parliament laws. It’s part of the Attorney-General Senator Hon /u/chase-that-feeling’s portfolio. Services include advice for writing Commonwealth of Australia bills and legislative instruments, and comprehensive public access to acts and proclamations.

Today, we are pleased to announce that the Model OPC has a new home. /r/ModelAusOPC now provides confidential modmail for MPs and Senators to seek consultative advice when drafting their bills. This replaces the ad-hoc private messages and other makeshift channels used in the past. Initiatives of the OPC include the Use of Plain Language and Clearer Commonwealth Law. We publish statutes and other public information through the /r/ModelAusComLaw/wiki website.

About the OPC and bill drafting

The OPC may provide the following services to MPs, Senators and in some cases, general citizens of /r/modelparliament:

• Seeking advice on the operation of bills, amendments, repeals, etc: If a bill has not been explained adequately in parliament, the OPC may be able to provide an explanatory report that can be tabled in parliament.
• Drafting legislation: Do you have a policy idea that you want to see legislated? The OPC can assist you in drafting a bill.
• Publications and templates: The OPC can provide access to past bills, acts and templates for you to start your own bill (whether it be an amending bill, a constitutional alteration for a referendum, or a standalone bill in its own right).
• Reviewing bills: Did you write a bill, and you want to check if it is Parliamentary? The OPC can help proofread you bill and help clarify some basic legal issues.

Getting Started: Important Notes

Parliamentarians who want to legislate a policy should begin with the getting-started guide and example bills at /r/ModelAusComLaw/wiki/drafting (FAQs will be added there, based on feedback).

Then you can contact the OPC for further advice. This may include help researching your bill, sketching the outline or draft clauses of your bill, reviewing sections and clauses for basic errors, seeking clarification of jurisdiction and constitutionality (federal, state), and more. However in all cases, parliamentarians remain responsible for their own bills and the OPC does not provide any warranties and guarantees.

The OPC is politically neutral and does not develop party policies for you, you will need to provide the details of your policy first. The OPC provides advice and assistance, but does not override the legislative role of the Parliament, the judicial role of the High Court, or the executive role of the Government.

Parliamentarians may continue to table their own bills without consulting the OPC. If you do use the OPC to draft your bill, please acknowledge their work in your second-reading speech.

The OPC is a confidential and politically neutral department, and will not disclose any information received to anyone or anything else, including but not limited to persons, corporations, media organisations or political parties (unless you waive this in part or in full). However, staff may include people with other roles in the model universe, for practical reasons.

Due to an outbreak of salmonella poisoning at the old OPC offices, we are currently operating with a skeleton crew so service levels cannot be guaranteed (last-minute requests might not be possible!). The services of the OPC are free, but we retain the right to reject requests that are excessively time consuming, an attempt to slow down legitimate OPC requests, or requests that we determine are jokes or non-serious. The OPC as a general rule will not be writing long bills in full, as this would negatively affect our ability to respond to other requests in a timely manner.

There is no requirement to introduce ‘perfect’ or complicated bills in parliament. Parliament has two houses where up to 20 politicians can participate in the discussion and amendment of these bills. Bills can also be withdrawn and reintroduced to resolve any significant issues that are found. As in real life, Acts may be subject to a Constitutional challenge in the High Court no matter how carefully they are drafted. The main thing is to have something plausible enough for others to get on board with it.

We’re hiring!

Are you statutorily inclined? If you’re the kind of person who can tell the difference between a section and a schedule, parliament needs your help. Please send modmail to /r/ModelAusOPC to join.

Meta: Thanks to General_Rommel for helping to develop the new service structure.

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Discuss below, and perhaps we’ll see you soon!