COAG Council System
At its meeting on 13 February 2011, the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) agreed to establish a new Council System to focus on strategic national priorities and new ways for COAG and its councils to identify and address issues of national significance. Under the new system, enduring issues of national significance will be addressed through Standing Councils, while critical and complex issues will be addressed through limited life Select Councils. Legislative and Governance Fora will also be established to oversee responsibilities set out in legislation, intergovernmental agreements (IGAs) and treaties outside the scope of Standing Councils.
Standing Councils have been established in the areas of: health; community, housing and disability services; school education and early childhood; tertiary education, skills and employment; transport and infrastructure; police and emergency management; law and justice; federal financial relations; energy and resources; environment and water; regional Australia; and primary industries.
Standing Councils are established to:
- achieve COAG’s strategic themes by pursuing and monitoring priority issues of national significance which require sustained, collaborative effort; and
- address key areas of shared Commonwealth and State responsibility and funding. A Ministerial Council is generally made up of Ministers of all Australian States and Territories and the Commonwealth who meet to discuss matters of mutual interest.
For more information on the COAG Council System visit the Council of Australian Governments website.
The Attorney-General is the Commonwealth member of the Standing Council on Law and Justice ( SCLJ). For more information on Australian Government involvement in SCLJ, please visit the Standing Council on Law and Justice page of this website.
For more information about SCLJ please visit the Standing Council on Law and Justice website.
The Minister for Emergency Management and the Minister for Home Affairs and Justice are members of the Standing Council on Police and Emergency Management (SCPEM). SCPEM comprises two previous Ministerial Councils, the Ministerial Council for Police and Emergency Management—Police and the Ministerial Council for Police and Emergency Management—Emergency Management. For more information on SCPEM, please visit the Standing Council on Police and Emergency Management page of this website.
In addition, the work of the Inter-Governmental Committee of the Australian Crime Commission (IGC-ACC) will also transition to the SCPEM, following required legislative amendments. COAG has agreed to allow five years for required amendments to be enacted. For more information on the IGC-ACC, please visit the Inter-Governmental Committee of the Australian Crime Commission page of this website.