Accountability

FPC is accountable to PBC for the allocation of drafting resources according to the legislation program determined by PBC. FPC attends PBC meetings (usually held on the Monday of each parliamentary sitting week) to answer questions and provide advice about how the drafting of Bills is progressing.

Senior Management Team

FPC takes responsibility for most of the decision-making within OPC on strategic and high-level management issues. FPC is assisted in this by the other members of the Senior Management Team (SMT).

The SMT consists of:

• FPC (Mr Peter Quiggin);
• the two Second Parliamentary Counsel (Ms Meredith Leigh and Mr Keith Byles);
• the General Manager Publishing (Ms Aasha Swift); and
• the General Manager Corporate (Ms Susan Roberts, who is also the Chief Finance Officer; and Mr Steve Campbell from 29 April 2019, who is also the Chief Information Officer).

The SMT meets regularly. Issues that the team considered during the year included:

• the Legislation Register redevelopment project;
• State of the Service survey results;
• recruitment policies and strategies;
• corporate governance, including the Corporate Plan;
• enterprise bargaining;
• risk management, fraud control and business continuity management;
• financial management;
• workforce planning;
• unscheduled absences;
• consultation and engagement;
• performance management;
• training and development;
• health and wellbeing initiatives;
• review of library and online materials; and
• internal policies, practices and processes.

Workplace Consultative Committee

OPC places importance on the involvement of staff in the decision-making process. This is achieved through the Workplace Consultative Committee (WCC).

The membership for the WCC during 2018-2019 consisted of the members of the SMT and 5 employee representatives—one representing each of 2 drafter workgroups, one representing the Publications workgroup, one representing the Corporate Services workgroup, and one general employee representative. The health and safety representative also attends WCC meetings.

The WCC is the primary method for staff consultation on matters that are not drafting-related. The WCC meets every 6 weeks and is chaired by a staff representative. The WCC has proved to be an effective method of ensuring staff can contribute to decision-making within OPC in an efficient manner.

Audit Committee

OPC’s Audit Committee consisted of:

• Mr Jeff Lamond, who was the Chair and an independent member;
• Mr Robert Hanlon, who was the independent member; and
• Ms Bronwyn Livermore, who was the OPC member (SES drafter).

In addition, there is a standing invitation to the Australian National Audit Office and OPC’s internal auditors to participate in the Audit Committee meetings. The General Manager Corporate and the Director Finance also attend meetings.

During the year, the activities of the Audit Committee included:

• providing advice to FPC and the General Manager Corporate on the preparation and reviewing OPC’s Financial Statements;
• reviewing OPC’s Internal Audit Plan, Risk Management Plan and Business Continuity Framework; and
• reviewing internal audit reports.

Other committees

Since the establishment of the WCC, the need for other office committees has diminished.

Staff meetings

Regular staff meetings are held at least every 6 weeks except in January and July.

The staff meeting is primarily an information meeting. The agenda provides for FPC and other members of OPC to report on specified aspects of operations and developments, such as the progress of the legislation program, staff movements and IT issues.