Government Legislation & Publications: New South Wales

When a bill is introduced to Parliament it needs to go through several stages before becoming law. One of the stages is the second reading.

In the second reading, the member who introduced the bill will 'outline the principles of the bill' followed by a debate of the bill. The bill will then be put to vote; if the House votes in favour of the bill, it will proceed to the next stage or otherwise the bill will be defeated. A bill which has passed all three readings in each House of Parliament then receives Royal Assent and becomes law.

For further information about this process see Legislative process explained.

Go to the Bills section on the Parliament of NSW website and select:

Current session bills (all bills; assented and non-assented)

1. Select the bill from either the alphabetical listing or search for the bill  
2. On the bill’s page under ‘Transcript of speeches’ select the pdf for either the Second Reading Speech for the LC (Legislative Council) or LA (Legislative Assembly)

Assented bills (approximately 2001 – present)

1. Select the bill from year, bill title or search
2. On the bill’s page under ‘Transcript of speeches’ select the pdf for either the Second Reading Speech for the LC (Legislative Council) or LA (Legislative Assembly)

All bills (approximately 2001 – present)

1. Select the bill from title, session or search
2. On the bill’s page under ‘Transcript of speeches’ select the pdf for either the Second Reading Speech for the LC (Legislative Council) or LA (Legislative Assembly)

All bills or assented only bills that don’t have a copy of the second reading speech on their page (1856 – present)

1. Choose assented bills or all bills
2. For assented bills, find your bill by year, title or search. For all bills, find by title, session or search
3. On the left-hand side of the bill’s page find the date of the second reading speech for either the Legislative Council or Legislative Assembly
4. Go to Hansard & House Papers and select All by date. Choose your year and then select the date that you require
5. Select the hansard pdf or html document under either the Legislative Assembly or Legislative council 
6. Search hansard (ctrl f) for the name of the bill to find the second reading speech

Go to the Hansard & House Papers section on the Parliament of NSW website and select:

Hansard by bill (All bills, May 2015 - present)

1. Use the alphabetical to select your bill
2. Select the second reading speech from the list of documents on the bill's page

Hansard by member (September 1991 - present)

1. Select surname initial then find the member's name from the alphabetical list