{"id":"C2004A00221","name":"Parliament Act 1974","slug":"parliament-act-1974","collection":"act","jurisdiction":"commonwealth","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":"165 of 1974","makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":31174,"registerId":"commonwealth-C2004A00221-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-04-01","status":"InForce","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Short title [see Note 1]","content":"##### 1 Short title \\[see Note 1\\]\n\n  This Act may be cited as the Parliament Act 1974.","sortOrder":0},{"sectionNumber":"2","sectionType":"section","heading":"Commencement [see Note 1]","content":"##### 2 Commencement \\[see Note 1\\]\n\n  This Act shall come into operation on the day on which it receives the Royal Assent.","sortOrder":1},{"sectionNumber":"3","sectionType":"section","heading":"Parliamentary zone","content":"##### 3 Parliamentary zone\n\n  (1) For the purposes of this Act, the Parliamentary zone is the area of land bounded by a line commencing at a point where the eastern boundary of Commonwealth Avenue intersects the inner boundary of State Circle and proceeding thence in a northerly direction along the eastern boundary of Commonwealth Avenue until it intersects the southern shore of Lake Burley Griffin, thence in a generally easterly direction along that shore until it intersects the western boundary of Kings Avenue, thence in a south westerly direction along that boundary until it intersects the inner boundary of State Circle, and thence clockwise around that inner boundary to the point of commencement.\n  (2) The location of the Parliamentary zone is indicated by shading on the plan set out in the Schedule.","sortOrder":2},{"sectionNumber":"4","sectionType":"section","heading":"Site of new Parliament House","content":"##### 4 Site of new Parliament House\n\n  The new and permanent Parliament House proposed to be constructed after the commencement of this Act shall be constructed upon the site on Capital Hill marked “Site of Parliament House” on the plan set out in the Schedule.","sortOrder":3},{"sectionNumber":"5","sectionType":"section","heading":"Parliamentary control of erection of buildings or other work within Parliamentary zone","content":"##### 5 Parliamentary control of erection of buildings or other work within Parliamentary zone\n\n  (1) No building or other work is to be erected on land within the Parliamentary zone unless:\n\n(a) if the land is within the precincts as defined by subsection 3(1) of the Parliamentary Precincts Act 1988—the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives jointly have; or\n\n(b) in any other case—the Minister has;\n\n  caused a proposal for the erection of the building or work to be laid before each House of the Parliament and the proposal has been approved by resolution of each House.\n  (2) Subsection (1) does not prevent carrying out of work by way of maintenance or repair of buildings or works situated on land within the Parliamentary zone, or by way of internal alterations to those buildings or works.\n  (3) Subsection (1) does not apply to buildings and works which have reached the documentation stage by 1 December 1974.","sortOrder":4},{"sectionNumber":"Schedule","sectionType":"part","heading":"Schedule","content":"# Schedule\n\nSections 3 and 4\n\nPARLIAMENTARY ZONE\n\n![](image.002.png).","sortOrder":5}],"analysis":{"issue_detection":{"absurdities":[{"type":"other","section":"4","severity":"low","reasoning":"The word 'shall' is imperative and future-oriented. Once Parliament House was built in 1988, the section became functionally spent. It cannot logically apply prospectively to a building that already exists, yet it remains unrepealed and continues to impose what reads as an ongoing duty. This is a mootness absurdity rather than a direct logical flaw, but it demonstrates poor legislative drafting for permanence.","confidence":0.72,"description":"Section 4 mandates that the 'new and permanent Parliament House proposed to be constructed after the commencement of this Act shall be constructed upon the site on Capital Hill'. Parliament House was indeed constructed and opened in 1988, meaning this forward-looking obligation has already been fulfilled. The section now imposes a mandatory obligation ('shall be constructed') on a completed historical fact, creating a permanently spent provision that cannot be repealed by operation of the Act itself, yet remains on the statute books as a live obligation."},{"type":"other","section":"5(1)(a) and 5(1)(b)","severity":"medium","reasoning":"Presiding officers (President of the Senate and Speaker) are conventionally required to act impartially and not advocate for or against matters before their chambers. Requiring them to 'cause a proposal to be laid' effectively makes them sponsors of the proposal, then requiring that same proposal to be approved by resolution of the House they preside over creates an inherent tension with their constitutional impartiality obligations. This is a structural conflict between the legislative mechanism and parliamentary convention.","confidence":0.65,"description":"The approval mechanism in section 5(1) creates a structural absurdity: the President of the Senate and Speaker of the House of Representatives must 'cause a proposal to be laid before each House', but the approval then requires a 'resolution of each House' — meaning the very presiding officers who initiated the proposal must then shepherd it through their respective chambers for approval. The presiding officers are constitutionally required to be neutral, yet the Act structurally positions them as proponents of specific building proposals requiring their own chambers' endorsement."},{"type":"retroactive_impossibility","section":"5(3)","severity":"low","reasoning":"The Act came into force on Royal Assent in 1974. The cut-off date of 1 December 1974 creates a window where projects documented after Royal Assent but before 1 December 1974 are exempt from the new parliamentary approval requirement. This partially undermines the protective purpose of section 5(1) for the period between commencement and 1 December 1974, creating an anomalous grace period where the new control regime technically applied but could be avoided by reaching documentation stage.","confidence":0.6,"description":"Section 5(3) exempts 'buildings and works which have reached the documentation stage by 1 December 1974'. The Act commenced upon Royal Assent, which occurred in 1974. It is logically possible — and indeed likely given common legislative drafting timelines — that some projects could have reached the documentation stage before or simultaneously with Royal Assent, meaning the exemption could apply to projects that predated or were concurrent with the Act's own commencement, effectively grandfathering out a potentially large class of projects from parliamentary oversight before the oversight regime even commenced."},{"type":"self_contradicting","section":"3(1) and Schedule","severity":"medium","reasoning":"Two definitional sources (textual boundary description and a shaded plan) are given equal legislative weight with no conflict resolution mechanism. The southern shore of Lake Burley Griffin is particularly susceptible to variation as lake levels and shoreline erosion change over time, potentially shifting the zone boundary without any legislative amendment. This creates an inherently unstable and potentially self-contradictory definition of the zone upon which the entire enforcement regime depends.","confidence":0.78,"description":"The Parliamentary zone is defined in section 3(1) by a complex metes-and-bounds legal description referencing specific boundaries (eastern boundary of Commonwealth Avenue, inner boundary of State Circle, southern shore of Lake Burley Griffin, western boundary of Kings Avenue). Section 3(2) then states the location 'is indicated by shading on the plan set out in the Schedule'. If there is any discrepancy between the verbal description and the plan — which is common with such descriptions given natural shoreline changes, road realignments, or surveying differences — there is no legislative hierarchy established to resolve the conflict, leaving enforcement of section 5 indeterminate."}],"contradictions":[{"severity":"medium","section_a":"5(1)(a)","section_b":"5(1)(b)","confidence":0.85,"description":"Section 5(1)(a) applies where land is within the precincts as defined by the Parliamentary Precincts Act 1988, and section 5(1)(b) applies 'in any other case'. However, the Parliamentary Precincts Act 1988 was enacted 14 years after the Parliament Act 1974. At the time of the Parliament Act's commencement, subsection (1)(a) was a dead letter — the referenced definition did not exist. The 1974 Act therefore contained a provision that could not operate until 1988, creating a 14-year period where only the Minister's approval pathway under (1)(b) existed, contradicting the apparent legislative intent to have dual oversight pathways from commencement."},{"severity":"medium","section_a":"3(1)","section_b":"5(1)(a)","confidence":0.7,"description":"Section 3(1) defines the 'Parliamentary zone' for the purposes of the Parliament Act 1974. Section 5(1)(a) then carves out land within that zone that also falls within 'the precincts as defined by subsection 3(1) of the Parliamentary Precincts Act 1988'. The Parliamentary Precincts Act 1988 defines 'precincts' by reference to a different plan and boundary description. There is no guarantee that the precincts boundary is wholly contained within, or coextensive with, the Parliamentary zone boundary, potentially creating areas that fall within the precincts but not the zone (to which section 5 would not apply at all) or ambiguous boundary zones where it is unclear which approval pathway applies."},{"severity":"high","section_a":"4","section_b":"5(1)","confidence":0.82,"description":"Section 4 mandates that Parliament House 'shall be constructed' on Capital Hill. Section 5(1) prohibits erection of any building within the Parliamentary zone without parliamentary approval by resolution of each House. Capital Hill and the Parliament House site are within the Parliamentary zone. Section 4 therefore imposes an unconditional mandatory obligation to build, while section 5(1) imposes a conditional prohibition requiring prior approval before building can commence. If either House refused to pass the required resolution under section 5(1), the mandatory obligation in section 4 would be rendered impossible to fulfil, with both obligations contained in the same Act and no mechanism to resolve the deadlock."}]},"kimi_summary":{"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":3,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The legislation remains focused on its original narrow purpose: establishing the Parliamentary zone, fixing the site of Parliament House, and controlling development in that area. The reference to the Parliamentary Precincts Act 1988 in section 5(1)(a) reflects a subsequent legislative development (that Act was passed in 1988), but this is a natural evolution of the statutory framework rather than scope creep. The core function—parliamentary oversight of the zone—remains unchanged."},"complexity_factors":["Short statute with only 5 substantive sections","Single defined term ('Parliamentary zone') with a complex geometric boundary description requiring map reference","Simple conditional structure in section 5 with two approval pathways (joint presiding officers vs Minister) based on land location","Two straightforward exceptions to the main rule (maintenance/repair and pre-December 1974 projects)","No cross-references to other legislation except one reference to the Parliamentary Precincts Act 1988 for definitional purposes","Minimal defined terms (no interpretation section)","Clear, direct legislative drafting typical of 1970s Australian statutes"],"plain_english_summary":"This law sets up special rules for building things in the area around Australia's Parliament House in Canberra.\n\n**What it does:**\n- **Defines the 'Parliamentary zone'**: This is a specific area of land in Canberra surrounding Capital Hill and Lake Burley Griffin. The exact boundaries are described in technical detail (following Commonwealth Avenue, the lake shore, Kings Avenue, and State Circle) and shown on a map in the Schedule.\n- **Chooses the site for Parliament House**: It officially designates the spot on Capital Hill where the current Parliament House was built.\n- **Gives Parliament control over construction**: No new buildings or major works can be built in this zone unless Parliament approves them first. There are two approval paths:\n  - For land inside the actual Parliament House grounds (the 'precincts'): Both the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives must jointly propose it, and both houses of Parliament must vote to approve it.\n  - For other land in the zone: The relevant Minister must propose it, and again both houses must approve.\n\n**Exceptions:**\n- Routine maintenance, repairs, and internal changes don't need approval.\n- Projects that were already well underway by December 1974 (when this law was being prepared) were allowed to continue.\n\n**Who it affects:**\n- The Australian Government and anyone wanting to build in the Parliamentary zone.\n- It protects the area's character by ensuring Parliament has a say in what gets built there.\n\n**Why it matters:**\nThis law ensures that the area around Parliament House—one of Australia's most important symbolic locations—remains under democratic control. It prevents the executive government from unilaterally changing the landscape around the seat of government without parliamentary scrutiny."},"flash_summary_failed":{"failed":true,"reason":"A positive credit balance is required for all requests, including BYOK, so fallback providers remain available. Add credits at https://vercel.com/d?to=%2F%5Bteam%5D%2F%7E%2Fai%3Fmodal%3Dtop-up to continue.","source":"analysis-cron"},"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":3,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The Act establishes geographic boundaries, a designated site for Parliament House and a parliamentary/ministerial approval mechanism for works within that zone. The text contains no provisions that expand or narrow its stated territorial or approval scope beyond those elements, so the instrument's scope remains as originally set out."},"complexity_factors":["Precise geographical description of the Parliamentary zone (metes-and-bounds language) requiring reference to a plan (Schedule).","Different decision-makers depending on location: President and Speaker jointly for precincts vs Minister elsewhere (creates dual clearance routes).","Requirement for parliamentary resolutions of both Houses introduces procedural and political discretion and potential delay.","Cross-reference to the Parliamentary Precincts Act 1988 for the definition of precincts.","Temporal exception for works documented by a historical cutoff date (1 December 1974) adds an administrable exemption."],"plain_english_summary":"This Act defines the Parliamentary zone around Capital Hill, fixes the site for the new Parliament House on Capital Hill, and requires that proposals to erect buildings or works in that zone be laid before and approved by resolution of each House (or, for certain precinct land, jointly by the President and Speaker) or by the Minister. It exempts routine maintenance, internal alterations and works already documented by 1 December 1974. This affects landowners, developers and government agencies by shifting approval power to Parliament or the Minister and imposing proposal, timing and compliance costs (ss.3–5)."},"summary":{"complexity_score":3,"scope_assessment":{"changed":true,"description":"The Act was originally enacted to govern construction of the new Parliament House (which opened in 1988) and control development in the Parliamentary Zone. Section 5 was later amended to incorporate references to the Parliamentary Precincts Act 1988 — legislation that did not exist when the Act was first passed. This added a new governance layer (joint President of Senate/Speaker approval) for land within the parliamentary precincts, representing a modest but meaningful expansion of the approval framework beyond what was originally contemplated."},"complexity_factors":["Geographic boundary description in section 3(1) uses technical surveying-style language that requires cross-referencing with a map to fully understand","The approval mechanism in section 5 has a two-track structure (Parliamentary Precincts Act vs. other land) requiring cross-referencing with another Act (Parliamentary Precincts Act 1988)","The Act is otherwise very short and its purpose is clear and narrow","Exceptions in subsections 5(2) and 5(3) add minor interpretive layers but are straightforward"],"plain_english_summary":"The Parliament Act 1974 defines and protects the Parliamentary Zone around Capital Hill in Canberra, legally requiring the permanent Parliament House to be sited there. It bars construction within that zone without Parliamentary approval — proposals for the Parliament precinct need joint approval from both Presiding Officers and both Houses, and other proposals must be brought to Parliament by a Minister. \n\nIt limits executive or developer control over central Canberra’s symbolic heart, preserving parliamentary oversight."}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/parliament-act-1974","history":"/api/acts/parliament-act-1974/history","analysis":"/api/acts/parliament-act-1974/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/parliament-act-1974/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/parliament-act-1974/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/parliament-act-1974/documents"}}