Arrangements for the drafting of Commonwealth legislation were put in place at the very beginning of Australia's federation as a nation in 1901.
In OPC's history, Fitting the Bill, Carmel Meiklejohn observes that the role of drafting legislationdemanded specialist skills, not just technical ability but the requisite professional ethos.
While the basic criteria - high-level academic qualifications, excellent language skills, imaginative yet systematic thinking, meticulous attention to detail and a degree of diplomacy - were not exclusive to drafting, such onerous and exacting legal work did not appeal to everyone …As the need for professional and experienced drafters grew with the expanding size and complexity of the Commonwealth statute book, greater attention was paid to the recruitment, training and retention of those dedicated to a career in this 'peculiar art'.
Some experts avowed that drafters were born, not made, others focused on nurturing drafting skills over time through trial, error and patient training.
In introducing the legislation establishing OPC, the Attorney-General saidThe work of a parliamentary draftsman offers a real challenge to a lawyer: He is involved in the essential processes of government: he has to perform the exacting task of translating what is at times the broadly and even loosely expressed ideas of practicing politicians into legislation that will stand the scrutiny of the courts.