• What are Bills and Acts?
• How does Parliament make laws?
• Bills currently before Parliament
• Making a submission on any Bill currently before Parliament
• Bills on notice
• Acts passed by Parliament in 2009
• Collection of Nauru legislation online
• Consolidation and reprint of legislation

What are Bills and Acts?

A Bill is a proposal for a law, which is submitted to Parliament in the form of a draft Act. A Bill passes through three readings in Parliament before it becomes an Act. You can find more information below about how bills are prepared, and about the first, second and third reading stages of a Bill, under ‘How does Parliament make laws?’

When a draft or proposed law has passed through three readings of Parliament and been certified by the Speaker, it becomes law and it is then called an Act of Parliament. An Act of Parliament is sometimes also referred to as a statute, law or piece of legislation. In the plural, Acts of Parliament may be referred to collectively as ‘legislation’. Once an Act of Parliament has been passed, it is certified by the Speaker and is given an Act number.

How does Parliament make laws?

Proposed laws usually come from government, although it is also possible for private members to make their own legislative proposals. The ideas behind government Bills may come from a range of different sources: they may be part of government policy including the ‘platform’ on which government members campaigned and were elected; they may come from suggestions by Members or the community; a Bill may be required in order for Nauru to comply with its international obligations; or the idea may originate from a government department, particularly in relation to routine administrative matters.

Bills are drafted either by the Office of Parliamentary Counsel or by external legal consultants, and all Bills go through the Office of Parliamentary Counsel for final checking.

In the case of government Bills, usually the Minister who is responsible for the Bill gives notice of his intention to introduce the Bill at a future sitting, and the presentation of the Bill is then placed on the notice paper.

When a Bill is presented to the House, the Clerk announces the motion to present the bill as listed on the notice paper. The Member then stands and presents the Bill to the House, and hands a signed copy of the Bill to the Clerk, together with an explanatory memorandum. The Clerk reads out the short title of the Bill. This is known as the first reading. Copies of the Bill and the explanatory memorandum are there circulated to all Members. At this point the Bill becomes a public document.

‘The next step usually happens immediately with the Minister moving that the Bill ‘now be read a second time’. He or she then makes a speech (second reading speech) explaining the purpose, general principles and effect of the Bill. At the end of the Minister’s speech, debate on the Bill is adjourned (deferred) and set down as an item of business for a future sitting. The purpose of this pause in proceedings in the give Members time to study the Bill and its effects before speaking and voting on it, and to provide the opportunity for public discussion and reaction. (Department of the Australian House of Representatives, ‘Making Laws’, House of Representatives Infosheet No.7, September 2008).

The second reading debate usually occurs at the next sitting after the Minister has delivered the second reading speech,  and is the debate on the motion moved that the Bill be read a second time. This is the stage at which the substantive debate on the merits of the Bill takes place. At the end of the debate a vote is taken, and if the motion for the second reading is passed, this means the House has agreed to the Bill in principle. The Clerk then stands and reads out the short title of the Bill for second time.

The Standing Orders provide that following the second reading of a Bill, it is referred to the Committee of the Whole for consideration in detail, but in most cases leave is granted to proceed immediately to the third reading. When this happens, the Minister moves that the Bill be read a third time. There is usually no debate on the third reading motion, and if the motion is passed, the Clerk stands and read the short title of the Bill for the third time. This means the Bill has been passed by the Parliament.

When a Bill has been passed, the Clerk must present a true copy of the Bill to the Speaker which is signed by the Clerk, and if he is satisfied that there are no irregularities, the Speaker will certify that the Bill has been duly passed by Parliament. The Bill becomes law when it receives the certificate of the Speaker. A law does not necessarily commence, or come into force, as soon as it has received the certificate of the Speaker – it may come into force on a later date if it is so specified in the commencement provisions of the law.

The table below outlines the procedure that government follows for the introduction and passage of government bills. It is also possible for private members to introduce their own bills, in which case the procedure would be somewhat different, as the initiative would not emanate for government and there would be no need for Cabinet approval of the bill.

Procedures for the introduction and passage of government bills

Proposed legislative initiative emanates from Department and/or Minister (on occasion as a result of public initiative/demand or advice from consultants or regional initiative)

Department seeks preliminary input from Parliamentary Counsel (PC) on legal and technical aspects of the proposal, including how it fits within the existing legislative framework and any major issues/obstacles with the proposal

Department prepares an internal memorandum on the relevant policy and proposal (with assistance from PC if required) and Cabinet in consultation with any other Government Members makes an informal decision whether or not to proceed with the legislative proposal

If Cabinet in consultation with other Government Members has approved the legislative proposal, Department provides drafting instructions to PC

Bill is drafted by Parliamentary Counsel on the basis of drafting instructions and provided to Department/Minister for comment and to Sec Justice for review/info

Second draft Bill prepared by PC on the basis of feedback from Department/Minister/Sec Justice

Public consultation if warranted (Cabinet decides whether consultation on a particular Bill is warranted, taking into account advice from PC and Sec Justice)

Final Draft Bill prepared by Parliamentary Counsel taking into account input from public consultation (if any) and input from Dept/Minister and Sec Justice/Sec Finance/Chief Sec re second draft; explanatory memorandum and second reading speech also prepared by PC

Final Cabinet Submission by line Ministry for Cabinet’s final approval for the Bill to be introduced

Bill introduced to Parliament by the relevant Minister and read a first time; second and third readings deferred until following sitting

Bill read a second time and debated, Bill read a third time and passed by Parliament

Act certified by Speaker and Clerk, copy provided to Justice Dept, Supreme Court and the Department responsible for administering the Act, as well as to PacLII

Bills currently before Parliament

The following table contains a list of Bills that are currently before Parliament, which means they have been presented and read a first time, but the second reading debate has not yet taken place. From the table you can download electronic copies of the Bills and accompanying documents. The second reading debate on these bills is an order of the day for the next sitting of Parliament.

Bill	Explanatory Memoranda	Second reading (SR)
No Bills currently before Parliament as Parliament has been dissolved; When the 20th Parliament is able to progress with parliamentary business, all Bills will be posted here

Making a submission on any Bill currently before Parliament

If you wish to make a submission on any of the bills currently before Parliament, you can email your submission to Parliamentary Counsel, or deliver your submission in hard copy. Your submission will be passed on to the Minister responsible for the Bill.

Bills on notice

The following proposed Bills have been placed on notice, which means that notice has been given to Parliament of the government’s intention to introduce these Bills at the next sitting:

[All Bills that were on notice lapsed with the dissolution of the 18th Parliament; the 19th Parliament was not able to progress with any parliamentary business; the 20th Parliament has been elected and commenced sittings but is not yet able to progress with any parliamentary business; this will be updated when the 20th Parliament begins its legislative business]

Acts passed by Parliament in 2009

The following table shows all Acts of Parliament that have were passed in 2009, with Act number, short title, date of passage by Parliament, date on which the Speaker certified the law, and the date on which the law commenced. You can access copies of these laws from the Pacific Institute of Legal Information, which has an online collection of Nauruan legislation.

Act No.	Title of Act	Passed	Certified	Commencement
1 / 2009	Supplementary Appropriation Act (No.2) 2008-2009	5 February 2009	6 February 2009	6 February 2009
2 / 2009	Supplementary Appropriation Act (No.3) 2008-2009	12 March 2009	13 March 2009	13 March 2009
3 / 2009	Nauru Phosphate Royalties Trust (Amendment) Act	16 April 2009	16 April 2009	16 April 2009
4 / 2009	Tobacco Control Act	20 April 2009	20 April 2009	20 July 2009 (and staggered)
5 / 2009	Appropriation Act 2009-2010	27 June 2009	29 June 2009	1 July 2009
6 / 2009	Tobacco Control (Amendment) Act	20 August 2009	28 August 2009	28 August 2009
7 / 2009	Constitution of Nauru (Parliamentary Amendments) Act	21 August 2009	28 August 2009	Day of next general election
n/a	Constitution of Nauru (Referendum Amendments) Act	21 August 2009	n/a (subject to referendum)	n/a
8 / 2009	Correctional Service Act	21 August 2009	28 August 2009	28 August 2009
9 / 2009	Telecommunications Service Tax Act	21 August 2009	31 August 2009	31 August 2009
10/2009	Liquor (Amendment) Act	15 September 2009	15 September 2009	15 September 2009
11/2009	Births, Deaths and Marriages (Amendment) Act	15 October 2009	15 October 2009	15 October 2009
12/2009	Criminal Justice (Amendment) Act	15 October 2009	15 October 2009	15 October 2009
13/2009	Constitutional Review Committee (Amendment) Act	26 November 2009	27 November 2009	27 November 2009
14/2009	Referendum Procedures Act	26 November 2009	27 November 2009	27 November 2009
15/2009	Republic of Nauru Finance Corporation (Repeal) Act	26 November 2009	27 November 2009	27 November 2009
16/2009	Customs (Amendment) Act	22 December 2009	22 December 2009	22 December 2009

Collection of Nauru legislation online

The following links will connect you to an online collection of Nauruan legislation hosted by the Pacific Institute of Legal Information (‘PacLII’) at the University of the South Pacific in Vanuatu. This online collection is incomplete, but will be complete by the end of 2010.

Nauru Sessional Legislation - courtesy of PacLII

Nauru Subsidiary Legislation - courtesy of PacLII

Consolidation and reprint of legislation

It is currently difficult to access the laws of Nauru, as library and electronic collections are incomplete. In March 2010, Nauru embarked on a project to consolidate and reprint all the laws of Nauru and make them readily accessible in hard copy and online. You can read more about the consolidation project on the Projects page of this site.