Commonwealth government publications

About votes and proceedings & journals

The Votes & proceedings (House of Representatives) and Journals (Senate) are equivalent to the minutes of proceedings of the respective houses.

The Votes & proceedings include references to each stage of a bill as well as the text of amendments made to bills. They can be used as a way of verifying:

  • titles of bills
  • dates bills were debated
  • any amendments moved and adopted in the lower house.

The Votes & proceedings (House of Representatives) and Journals (Senate) are produced daily when Parliament is sitting and are then cumulated after the end of a parliamentary term. The cumulated volumes also include indexes to the Votes & proceedings and to the Journals as well as a separate index to Parliamentary papers presented during that term and other information.

This guide provides advice about accessing Votes & proceedings and Journals for the: