Parliamentary Committee Roles In Facilitating Public Policy At The Commonwealth Level

The fundamental tension in parliamentary democracies is between a responsible government conception that is executive centred and the parliamentary government conception that focuses on parliament, accountability and the need for direct public access and influence. Parliamentary committees provide a major vehicle not only for scrutinising the executive, but as an important means of facilitating public contributions to parliamentary deliberations. This article examines aspects of how the Australian Parliament's committees perform public policy roles.(1)