187Consultation statement to be prepared

187 Consultation statement to be prepared

(1) A member of Parliament who proposes to introduce a Bill to which this Part applies into a House of Parliament must cause a consultation statement to be prepared in respect of that Bill setting out the matters referred to in subsection (3).

(2) A member of Parliament who introduces a Bill to which this Part applies into a House of Parliament, or another member acting on the member's behalf, must cause the consultation statement prepared under subsection (1) to be laid before the House into which the Bill is introduced before the member's second reading speech on the Bill.

The obligation in subsections (1) and (2) applies to Ministers introducing government Bills and members of Parliament introducing non-government Bills.

(3) The consultation statement must state—

(a) whether the First Peoples' Assembly and the Treaty Authority were consulted on the proposed Bill in accordance with the following timeframes—

(i) in relation to a Bill which proposes to abolish Gellung Warl or to repeal this Act in whole or in part, at least 6 months before the introduction of the Bill into a House of Parliament; or

(ii) in relation to any other Bill to which this Part applies, at least 3 months before the introduction of the Bill into a House of Parliament; and

(b) whether the member has considered any response of the First Peoples' Assembly or the Treaty Authority in relation to the proposal in the Bill in good faith; and

(c) whether the member has taken all reasonable steps to ensure the Bill gives effect to the principles in sections 22 to 26 of the Advancing the Treaty Process with Aboriginal Victorians Act 2018 with any appropriate modification of those principles; and

(d) if the First Peoples' Assembly or the Treaty Authority has raised an issue in relation to the proposed Bill, the member's response to any issue raised.

(4) The consultation statement must attach a copy of the response of the First Peoples' Assembly and a copy of the response of the Treaty Authority that was received by the member (if any).