Important mandatory requirement information

This guidance provides information on the requirement for the online publishing of documents that have been tabled in Parliament and examples of the types of documents to be included.

Why must I?

The Online Content Requirements for government websites requires departments and agencies to publish a range of public accountability information online, including all documents that have been tabled in Parliament.

Every year, documents are presented to the Senate, the House of Representatives, or to both Houses of the Parliament for their consideration. The tabling of documents is an important means of keeping the Parliament informed of the Government’s activities. It demonstrates the accountability of the Government to the Parliament and the community, and provides an important source of information to Senators and Members as well as placing information on the public record.

What must I do?

All papers that are tabled in Parliament must be published online. Approximately 7000 documents are tabled in Parliament annually. Documents published by Government agencies and presented for tabling by the relevant Minister are referred to as ‘tabled papers’. On average, since 2000, approximately 760 tabled papers are presented to the Parliament each year. Some tabled documents, including tabled papers, are deemed to be of a substantial nature by Parliament and are included in the Parliamentary Paper Series; these documents are referred to as ‘Parliamentary Papers’.

All documents presented to Parliament are recorded in the Journals of the Senate and the Votes and Proceedings of the House of Representatives, and are listed in the Index to Papers Presented to Parliament.

There is no formal list of documents that should be submitted to Parliament. However, once a document has been tabled in Parliament it becomes part of the public record, and must be published online. Documents presented to Parliament include, but are not limited to:

• government responses to committee reports
• ministerial statements
• annual reports
• other instruments.

How do I?

Information about documents to be presented to the Senate, the House of Representatives, or to both Houses of the Parliament can be found in the Guidelines for the Presentation of Documents to the Parliament (including Government Documents, Government Responses to Committee Reports, Ministerial Statements, Annual Reports and Other Instruments prepared by the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.  This includes requirements for agencies under both the Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997 and the Commonwealth Authorities and Companies Act 1997.

It is the responsibility of the author department/agency to ensure that the electronic version of the document is identical to the printed version.

Agencies are able to decide which website is most appropriate for hosting tabled papers. Often this is the departmental or agency website.

In general, the drafting and approval process for the online version is the same as for the offline version.

In order to do this:

• Maintain communication between the print and online publishing functions.
• Make sure the document author verifies the online version before it is published.

Agencies should consider emphasising the requirement to publish tabled papers online in their publishing guidelines.

Example publishing model:

Subjects:

• online publishing,