Every new law would need a costs and benefits report
Senator Tammy Tyrrell wants every bill and most new rules to come with an impact statement. That is a report on who a law affects, what it costs and what else could work.
Official name: Mandatory Regulation Impact Statement Bill 2025
- Any MP or senator bringing in a bill would have to give Parliament an impact statement.
- Ministers and agencies making new rules would have to include one too.
- The statement would weigh up costs, gains and other ways to fix the same problem.
- Small, technical changes would not need one.
- Leaving the statement out would not stop a law from working.
Who it affects
- Members of Parliament: Anyone bringing in a bill, from any party or none, would need to prepare an impact statement.
- Ministers and agencies: When they write detailed rules, the notes that go with them would have to include an impact statement.
- Businesses, community groups and people: They could read how a planned law would affect them before Parliament votes on it.
Impact reports only a guideline
Senator Tammy Tyrrell brought this bill into the Senate, the upper house of Parliament, on 3 November 2025. It is a private bill. That means it comes from a member of Parliament who is not a minister.
The bill uses the name regulation impact statement. This article calls it an impact statement. It is a report on how a new law would affect people. It sets out the costs and the gains. It also sets out other ways to reach the same goal.
Right now, the government has its own guide called the Legislative Handbook 2017. It says some government bills and rules should come with an impact statement. These are ones that would affect businesses, community groups or people. But that is only a guide the government wrote. No law makes it happen. It also does not cover bills from other MPs.
The senator says making it a legal duty would make law-making more open. She says it would help Parliament check bills properly.
Impact reports for bills
Any MP who plans to bring in a bill must have an impact statement prepared. The MP, or someone acting for them, must hand it to their house of Parliament.
The senator says the statement would sit inside the notes that come with a bill. It would go next to a statement on human rights. Every bill already needs one of those under the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011.
The impact statement must weigh up the likely effects of the bill, including costs and gains. It must also look at other ways of meeting the bill's goals. Effects include those on businesses, community groups and people.
Say a bill would make every café print new labels on takeaway cups. Its impact statement would have to guess what that costs cafés. It would say what good it does. It would ask if there is a cheaper way to get the same result.
Impact reports for rules
Ministers and agencies write many detailed rules without a vote in Parliament. Each one already comes with notes that explain it.
Under the bill, whoever writes the rule must prepare an impact statement and put it in those notes. It must cover the same things as one for a bill.
Exceptions and limits
Some parts of a bill or rule would not need an impact statement. These are parts that are small or technical. They also include parts that do not really change how things work now. The Office of Impact Analysis checks government plans. The senator says changes it has already found too small would also not need one.
If a statement is left out, the law or rule still counts and still works. Courts, and bodies that review decisions, would not have to follow an impact statement.
The senator's notes say a bill without a needed statement should be stopped before a vote. The bill's words do not set out a rule for that.
The new duty would only apply to bills and rules brought in after the law starts. The Governor-General could sign detailed rules to fill in the gaps. The Governor-General stands in for the King.
Waiting in the Senate
The law would start the day after it became law. A bill becomes law when the Governor-General signs it.
Senator Tyrrell brought in the bill on 3 November 2025. The debate on its main idea began that day. It has not been debated since. To become law, it would need to pass the Senate and then the House of Representatives, the lower house.
Its journey through Parliament
| 03 Nov 2025 | Senate: Introduced and read a first time |
| 03 Nov 2025 | Senate: Second reading moved |