9.1 Guidelines for departmental officers required to brief Members (including Opposition Members) of Parliament in relation to Bills before the House

When requested by their Minister, departmental officers are to provide a briefing to Members in relation to Bills before the Legislative Assembly.

All other requests for a briefing on a Bill before the Legislative Assembly should be referred to the Minister’s Office for consideration.

The briefing officer should be accompanied by an officer from the Minister's Office and another departmental officer.

The briefing should not take place until after the Bill has been considered by Cabinet, or preferably introduced into the House.

Advocacy and defence of policy is the responsibility of the Minister and accordingly should not form part of the brief.

Briefing officers should answer questions of a factual nature and not venture an opinion. If the briefing officer considers the question requires a response which goes beyond the factual nature of the briefing, the Member concerned should be advised that it is not appropriate for the briefing officer to answer the question.

Any written material provided should be limited to copies of the Bill, the explanatory notes and any other publicly released material such as discussion papers or statistical information.