Researching Legislation

1. Go to the Federal Register of Legislation website.

2. Click on the In Force tile on the homepage to locate the Commonwealth Act by title.
3. Type in the name of the Act in the search box. For example, Corporations Act 2001 to find the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth).
4. Under the Search in heading, select Name.
5. Under the Search using heading, select Contains all the words.
6. Under Filter by collection, select Act.
7. Click on Search.
   
   
    
8. Results are filtered by relevance. An orange dot indicates that there are unincorporated amendments contained in the consolidated version of the Act. A green dot indicates that the version incorporates all amendments and is in force.
9. Click on the title of the Act to view the full text of the Act.
   
    
10. In the Act's record, you can navigate using the Table of Contents by clicking on the plus (+) icons next to each heading to expand. You can also download a PDF version, or click All versions to see historical versions of the Act for point in time research.
    

See the Federal Register of Legislation Help and Resources page for more search information.

1. Go to the Federal Register of Legislation website.
2. Click on the In Force tile on the homepage to locate the Commonwealth Act by title.
3. Type in the name of the Act in the search box. For example, Corporations Act 2001 to find the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth).
4. Under the Search in heading, select Name.
5. Under the Search using heading, select Contains all the words.
6. Under Filter by collection, select Act.
7. Click on Search.
   
    
8.  Results are filtered by relevance. An orange dot indicates that there are unincorporated amendments contained in the consolidated version of the Act. A green dot indicates that the version incorporates all amendments and is in force.
9. Click on the title of the Act to view the full text of the Act.
   
    
10.  In the Act's record, you can locate the amendments to the Act in the Table of Contents by clicking on the plus (+) icons next to each heading to expand. Expand the sections in the Table of Contents, until you can find the Endnotes heading. Under Endnotes, there is information listed in Amendment history (Endnote 4) and Legislation history (Endnote 3).
    

11. Endnote 4 - Amendment history allows you to browse to a section of the Act to see its amendment history. For example, Section 3 was amended by Act No 154 of 2020. To view the name of Act No 154/2020, you need to view Legislation history (Endnote 3).

12. Endnote 3 - Legislation history lists all Acts which have amended the principal Act. For example, Act No 154/2020 is the Territories Legislation Amendment Act 2020 (Cth). The Commencement column of Endnote 3 shows when the provisions of the amending Act came into force.

1. Go to the Victorian Legislation.

2. Select In force from the top bar menu. Then select Acts in force.

3. You either type in the name of the Act and click on Title from the drop-down menu. For example, “charter of human rights” to find the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006 (Vic). Or you can browse Acts alphabetically from the Starting Letter list located below the search box. You can further refine your search by selecting a specific year to search within.

4. Look through the results list that has been generated to find the relevant Act. Then click on the title of the Act.

5. In the Act’s record, click on the authorised.pdf file to view the latest authorised version of the Act.

6. For point-in-time research purposes, you can also view historical versions of the Act in the Version history table.

1. Go to the Victorian Legislation.

2. Select In force from the top bar menu. Then select Acts in force.

3. You either type in the name of the Act and click on Title from the drop-down menu. For example, “charter of human rights” to find the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006 (Vic). Or you can browse Acts alphabetically from the Starting Letter list located below the search box. You can further refine your search by selecting a specific year to search within.

4. Look through the results list that has been generated to find the relevant Act. Then click on the title of the Act.

5. In the Act’s record, click on the authorised.pdf file to view the latest authorised version of the Act.

6. Navigate to the relevant section of the Act. View the margin notes next to the section to see the amending Act. For example, Section 8(2) was amended by Act No 20 of 2022 s. 9. To view the name of Act No 20/2022, you will need to scroll to Endnotes and then Table of Amendments.

7. Using the Bookmarks in Adobe, click through the Act’s Table of Contents. Click Endnotes. Then click Table of Amendments.

8. The Table of Amendments lists Amending Acts in chronological order. Scroll to the details for the amending Act. For example, Act No 20/2022 is the Justice Legislation Amendment Act 2022 (Vic). Section 9 of this amending Act commenced on 1 June 2022. This means that Section 8(2) of the principal Act came into force on 1 June 2022.