About the role

Work as part of a team of drafters providing legislative drafting services (partly to contribute to project outputs but primarily to acquire the skills required to provide legislative drafting services).

Position duties In this role, you will:

- Acquire the skills required to provide legislative drafting services by completing on the job training and participating in formal training courses.
- Assist the Senior Executive Service team leader to provide legislative drafting services and, under the supervisor’s close oversight, assume progressively higher levels of independent responsibility for providing legislative drafting services.
- Carry out or participate in such product development (e.g. plain English) or operations support (e.g. IT development, participation in office committees and reviews, delivery of external training) as may be assigned, or such other duties relevant to the service provided by the OPC as may be assigned.

Legislative drafting services are services by which a drafter:
- assists in identifying, analysing and considering legal, logical, policy and implementation issues connected with legislative proposals; and
- plans and manages legislative projects; and
- maintains effective working relationships with members of the drafting team, clients, other OPC staff and other relevant parts of the government, parliament and the public service; and
- expresses legislative proposals in draft legislation that gives effect to the client’s requirements; and is well structured and organised; and is clearly expressed; and is likely to be understood by its target audience.

Key capabilities

Important skills needed to provide legislative drafting services are:

- analytical, problem-solving and legal skills; and
- communication skills; and
- interpersonal and team participation skills; and
- judgement; and
- learning skills.

Selection Criteria

1.



Development potential A combination of learning skills (including willingness to learn), other skills, attributes and knowledge that demonstrates a robust potential to progress to the Assistant Parliamentary Counsel Grade 2 level in a relatively short period of time and then at least to the Assistant Parliamentary Counsel Grade 3 level.

Note: It is expected that people would be ready to progress to the APC 2 level within about 2 years and to the APC 3 level within another 2 to 3 years.

2. Analytical, problem-solving and legal skills

Analytical and problem-solving ability, and legal and practical knowledge, that would enable a person to assist in providing legislative drafting services.

3. Communication skills

Oral and written communication skills (especially written English ability) that would enable a person to assist in providing legislative drafting services. Attention to detail in written work, including a sound knowledge of English grammar, usage, spelling and punctuation. Well-developed oral communication skills by which a person is able to sustain effective working relations with other people

4. Interpersonal skills and team participation skills

Empathy, assertiveness and conflict resolution skills that would enable a person to sustain effective working relations with other people, including as part of a team.

5. Judgement An ability to respond appropriately when confronted with difficult or subtle choices, especially in areas relevant to legislative drafting and human relations management.

6. Legal qualifications

Either





- admission as a legal practitioner of the High Court or the Supreme Court of an Australian State or Territory; or
- a degree in laws of an Australian tertiary institution (or a comparable overseas qualification which, in the opinion of First Parliamentary Counsel, is appropriate to the duties of the position).

Note that if you are not admitted, we will require you to become admitted within a reasonable period.

For additional information please see the Position Profile below:

Eligibility requirements To be eligible for the role, you must:

- be an Australian Citizen;
- be able to obtain and maintain an Australian Government Security Vetting Agency (AGSVA) clearance to Baseline status.

How to apply To apply for this position, please visit the careers page of our website to submit your application via our e-Recruit system. Your application should:

- provide a one-page statement (cover letter) (approx. 750 words) outlining how your skills, knowledge, and experience make you the right person for the role, including details of relevant achievements and examples that demonstrate your suitability;
- provide a current CV detailing educational background and recent employment history that is relevant to this position;
- provide the name and contact details of two referees as part of online application form. We may contact your nominated referees, and other people we think are appropriate. Please let us know if you want to us to advise you before we contact your nominated referees;
- provide details of your full academic results (tertiary only, for both legal and non legal studies), including academic transcripts and documents evidencing your qualifications (and admission to practice if applicable).

Contact To discuss the position in more detail please contact Samara Zeitsch on 02 6120 1439 or [email protected].

Closing date

Applications close for this vacancy at 11.59pm on Sunday, 22 November 2026.

📌 Assistant Parliamentary Counsel, APC Grade 1 (Canberra)
🏢 Australian Office of Parliamentary Counsel
📍 Canberra