Official duties

Only members who are office holders or Ministers of State (including Parliamentary Secretaries) have official duties.

The official duties of a member are the activities that relate to the member’s role as an office holder or a Minister of State and are determined by the Minister (s6(1)(d), PBR Act). The activities the Minister has determined to be official duties are:

Member (or class) Official duties
All office holders and Ministers of State In the member’s official capacity (being their capacity as a Minister or office holder, as the case may be):

a)   Exercising the powers or functions, or performing the duties, of the member’s office, or activities engaged in for the purposes of doing so;

b)   Attending an event to which the member has been invited in their official capacity;

c)   Other activities directly related to, and engaged in for the purposes of, performing the member’s official role.

Office Holders

Section 5 of the PBR Act provides that the following are office holders:

  • President of the Senate
  • Speaker of the House of Representatives
  • Deputy President and Chair of Committees of the Senate
  • Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives
  • A person who is an office holder because of a determination under section 7.

The Minister has determined under section 7 of the PBR Act that a member who holds one of the following positions in, or in relation to, the Parliament or either House of the Parliament; or who performs functions of the following kind in, or in relation to, the Parliament or either House of the Parliament is an office holder:

  • Leader of the Opposition
  • Deputy Leader of the Opposition
  • Leader of the Opposition in the Senate
  • Manager of Opposition Business in the House of Representatives
  • Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate
  • Shadow Minister
  • Leader of a minority party
  • Party Whip (however described) of a party for a House of the Parliament, where that party has at least 5 members in the relevant House
    • Note: there may, for a party, be more than one party whip for a House
  • Second Deputy Speaker in the House of Representatives
  • Member of the Speaker’s Panel in the House of Representatives
  • Temporary Chair of Committees in the Senate
  • Chair or Deputy Chair of a properly constituted Parliamentary Committee, including Select, Standing and Statutory Committees, and whether Joint or of a single House. 

Last updated: 10 December 2019