ROLE AND CHARACTERISTICS OF SUBORDINATE AUTHORITIES IN LAW- MAKING

Barking dogs, the neighbor’s new cubby house, street parties and noisy neighbors! These are just some of the areas that your local council has made laws about We know that parliament is the supreme law- making body, however, parliament does delegate law-making powers to other bodies such as your local Point Cook council

Parliament does not have the time, expertise or local knowledge to regulate all aspects of our lives They delegate to subordinate authorities Parliament gives subordinate authorities the power to make laws by passing an enabling act They can remove this power by repealing the enabling act Regulations made by subordinate authorities are known as delegated legislation The rules or regulations made by local councils are called local laws

GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS Responsible for administration of each area of government policy Eg: Department of Treasury and Finance, Department of Education and early Childhood development, Department of Human Services They each have a minister overseeing them and secrataries who are public servants in charge of each dept. Often make suggestions for new legislation and provide regulations that help laws work Any regulations made by these departments must have been approved by executive council

EXECUTIVE COUNCIL Comprises governor (at state level) or governor general (federal level) and between two and five ministers They meet regularly and the various government departments and statutory authorities have their regulations ready to be looked at and formally approved Also have power to add detail to many laws in the form of regulations, proclamations and orders-in- council

STATUTORY AUTHORITIES Parliament passes enabling acts to establish statutory authorities Created by statute and include Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) the Office of Gas Safety, VIC Roads and Australia Post Statutory regulations made by these authorities also must be approved by the Executive Council

LOCAL COUNCILS Local councils make laws and regulations for their specific areas They obtain this power from Local Government Act 1989 (Vic) The jurisdiction of each council only covers suburbs and surrounding areas that come within that council boundary Members are elected by people who live in the area They make rules and regulations such as: Permission to build a garage/extension Size of wheelie bins Animal registration