A brief description of most new Bill brought into either House can be found in the Bills Digest , on the Australian Parliament House website. A Current List of Bills can also be accessed via the Australian Parliament House website. These policies may relate to the raising of revenue through taxation bills or the expenditure of money through appropriation bills, which include those bills giving effect to the expenditure proposals announced each May by the Treasurer in the Budget. Bills introduced to the Federal Parliament may cover any policy area over which the Commonwealth has jurisdiction. These policy areas are generally outlined in section 51 of the Constitution and include such matters as international and interstate trade and commerce, postal, telegraphic and telephonic services, defence, currency, banking, quarantine, copyright, migration, marriage and divorce, pensions, external affairs, and conciliation and arbitration of interstate industrial disputes.
Many bills amend laws already in existence.
While the role of the ministry or executive government is to develop and administer policy, the role of the Parliament or legislature is to examine and approve proposals for legislation and to monitor the effectiveness of its operation, often through the work of committees. The right to propose legislation is not restricted to the government of the day. Any senator or member of the House of Representatives may introduce a bill and, in the Senate, a private senator's bill is dealt with in exactly the same way as a government bill. While comparatively few private senators' and members' bills are agreed to by both Houses, some significant proposals have become law as a result of private senators' and members' initiatives. From the Parliament's perspective, the most significant piece of legislation sponsored by a private senator or member was the Parliamentary Privileges Act 1987 which was introduced by the President of the Senate and which codified the Parliament's legal immunities and its powers to protect the integrity of its processes.