The Legislative Council was back in session on Tuesday, passing two bills: one related to the screen and digital games industries and one establishing a product stewardship framework. The House also heard the introduction of another bill related to post-crash drug and alcohol testing and the President made a ruling on parliamentary comity. Read on for more…

INTRODUCED: ROAD TRANSPORT LEGISLATION AMENDMENT (POST-CRASH DRUG AND ALCOHOL TESTING) BILL 2025

Minister for Transport the Hon John Graham introduced the Road Transport Legislation Amendment (Post-Crash Drug and Alcohol Testing) Bill 2025 in the Legislative Council. This bill seeks to amend the Road Transport Act 2013 in relation to post-crash drug and alcohol testing.

In his second reading speech, Minister Graham explained that the bill introduces key reforms to road safety laws by replacing the term “accident” with “crash” to acknowledge that serious road trauma is preventable and not merely incidental. It aligns with the 2026 Road Safety Action Plan and strengthens post-crash drug and alcohol testing for crashes resulting in grievous bodily harm, expanding police powers to systematically collect evidence in such cases. Testing will apply equally to injured and uninjured drivers, as well as bicycle riders involved in serious crashes.

Additionally, the bill would enhance drug and alcohol testing protocols by allowing samples from injured drivers to be tested for drugs under certain conditions and enabling police to arrest uninjured drivers for testing if there is reasonable suspicion of grievous bodily harm. It would also introduce measures to support enforcement of combined drink and drug driving offences and makes amendments to the Alcohol Interlock Program to allow for medical exemptions.

Read more about the bill in Mr Graham’s second reading speech.

Following the bill’s introduction, debate was adjourned for five calendar days, according to standing order.

PASSED: SCREEN AND DIGITAL GAMES INDUSTRIES BILL 2025 

The Screen and Digital Games Industries Bill 2025 passed the Legislative Council, having been introduced in the previous sitting week. This bill will assist, promote and strengthen the screen and digital games industries in NSW. Read more about the bill in our previous blog.

Members of the Opposition, The Greens and the Government made contributions to the second reading debate. Read all member contributions in the Hansard record.

Both the second and third readings of the bill were agreed to on the voices, with the bill then forwarded to the Legislative Assembly for concurrence.

PASSED: PRODUCT LIFECYCLE SUSTAINABILITY BILL 2025

The Product Lifecycle Responsibility Bill 2025 also passed the Legislative Council on Tuesday. This bill establishes a product stewardship framework for brand owners of certain products. Read more about the bill in our previous blog.

During the second reading debate, contributions were made by members of The Greens, the Opposition, the Government and Independent member Tania Mihailuk. Read all member contributions in the Hansard record.

With the second and third readings of the bill agreed to on the voices, the bill was then forwarded to the Legislative Assembly for concurrence.

PRESIDENT’S RULING – COMITY AND NOTICES OF MOTION

The President delivered a ruling related to a point of order concerned the wording of a notice of motion submitted by the Hon Mark Latham (Independent) and the principle of comity.

Comity refers to the mutual respect between the two Houses for their independence and autonomy with regard to their own internal affairs.  

The President in his ruling considered the notice the subject of a point of order and a second notice of motion which dealt with the principle of comity.  The President ruled that while the House may debate the principle of comity and allegations against members of the other House through a substantive motion, certain phrases in the second notice of motion breached standing order 96(3) which does not allow reflections to be made against members of either House. Consequently, the President directed that that notice be amended in accordance with standing order 75 which states that a notice which is contrary to the “standing orders or practice will be amended before it appears on the

Notice Paper”.  The point of order on the other notice of motion was not upheld and it appeared on the Notice Paper unchanged.

See motions 1832 and 1833 in the Notice Paper to read Mr Latham’s notices of motion in full.

Read the President’s full ruling in the Hansard record.

IN COMMITTEES

During the course of the day, membership of the Select Committee on the Relationship between the Dural Caravan Incident and Parliamentary Debates on Legislation was announced, with the Hon Greg Donnelly, the Hon Bob Nanva and the Hon Emily Suvaal representing the Government and the Hon Wes Fang representing the Opposition. See the full committee membership on the committee webpage.

The following committee reports and Government responses were also tabled in the House:

GENERAL MOTIONS

The following motions were agreed to without debate, during the day’s formal business:

DOCUMENTS TABLED AND REPORTED IN THE HOUSE

Among the documents tabled and reported on Tuesday were:

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