Researching Legislation

When you are researching Commonwealth Bills, the Parliament of Australia website has a free access database called ParlInfo. This database contains official versions of Bills, extrinsic materials, Hansard and Parliamentary reports.

1. Start at the Parliament of Australia website.
2. Select ParlInfo from the top navigation bar.
   
    
3. Select Advanced Search/Browse
   
    
4. Enter your keywords into the Search Fields. In this example we are going to look for the Bill and extrinsic materials for the National Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2022 (Cth)
   
   
   In the Search for box, type in a few keywords from the title of the Bill. Change the Content drop down to Title. In the Using field change the default to all of these words.
    
5. Scroll down to Bills and Legislation, and depending on the date of the Bill, select Current or Previous Parliaments. In this example we have ticked Bills of the Current Parliament.
   
    
6. Click on Search. On the results screen, look for the result with [Bill Homepage] next to the title of the Bill as this contains all the material relating to that Bill. If there are a lot of results, you can use the limits on the left of the screen to refine your list.
   
    
7. Click on the title of the Bill to view the core document homepage for the Bill. On this page you will find some key information about the Bill and can navigate to relevant content via the top menu.
   
   
   Under the Text of Bill section you will find downloadable formats of the Bill and the explanatory memorandum (including any proposed amendments). Further down the page are links to the Minister’s speech in Hansard, Bills digest and committee reports.
   
    

Tip

For guidance on searching this website visit the Parlinfo Advanced Search Tips.
 

Where do you find pre 1982 Commonwealth Explanatory Memoranda or Explanatory Statements?

From 1901 to 1982 not all Commonwealth Bills had an accompanying Explanatory Memorandum. The Parliamentary Library has produced an Index to Explanatory Memoranda 1901-1982.   

There is also useful information on the Was there an EM? webpage. Under section 15AB of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901 (Cth), explanatory memorandum are considered as extrinsic materials when researching the interpretative process of legislation.
 

When you are researching Victorian Bills, the Victorian Legislation website contains the official versions of Victorian Bills and explanatory memorandum.  

1. Start at the Victorian Legislation website.
2. Scroll down the page and select Bills.
   
    
3. To find a Bill currently before Parliament, select Bills in Parliament. To find all other previous Bills, select All Bills.
4. Enter your keywords into the Search Fields. In this example we are going to look for the Bill and extrinsic materials for the Wage Theft Act 2020 (Vic).
   
   
   In the Search box, type in a few keywords from the title of the Bill. Change the Title and Content drop down to Title. You also have the option to select the year if known.
    
5. Click on Search. Once you have found the current Bill in the list, click on the title link to go to its homepage. From this page you will find downloadable formats of the Bill and the explanatory memorandum (including any proposed amendments).
   

   
   Further down the page are links to the Minister’s speech in Hansard.
   
    

LawNow on Lexis+ Australia is a full text legislation service, including current, repealed and historical versions of Australian legislation.

Each piece of legislation includes a detailed legislative history, plus links to subordinate legislation, a list of defined terms and a downloadable PDF document.

Each bill document includes links to explanatory memorandum and second reading speeches, where available. This example is searching for the Environment Protection Amendment Bill 2019 (Vic).

1. Go to the Lexis Advance database homepage via the Library A-Z Databases.
2. Select Legislation and then select the relevant jurisdiction, eg: Victoria.
   
    
3. Select Bills by Year & Title.
   
4. Select the Year and browse to the title of the Bill. Select the title of the Bill to open the Bill homepage.
   
   
    
5. From here you can navigate to the Text of the Bill, Explanatory Memorandum or Second Reading Speech, and view the progress of the Bill through Parliament.
   
    

Lawlex Premium allows you to find known Bills or to view Bills from all Australian jurisdictions.

1. Go to the Lawlex Premium database homepage via the Library A-Z Databases.
2. Select the Bill Search link.
   
    
3. Enter the name of the Bill into the keywords box (do not include the year). This example is searching for the Building and Environment Protection Legislation Amendment Bill 2019 (Vic).
4. Select All to clear the jurisdictions, then select VIC to only search for Victorian bills.
5. Change the year field to 2019. Select Search.
   
    
6. Select the title of the Bill to expand the details.
   
    
7. This view contains a table that details the passage of the Bill through Parliament, including whether there were any amendments.
   
    
8. Select View Bill to go to the core document homepage for the Bill.
   
    
9. The Related Links section provides links to the Explanatory Memorandum and extrinsic materials.
10. Use the This Title amends link to see all legislation affected by the Bill.
11. On Assent, the information under Document Status will change to "This Bill is now an Act."
     

For older Bills which are not available on the authorised government legislation websites, some are available on the Australasian Legal Information Institute (AustLII).

1. Go to the AustLII website
2. Choose the relevant jurisdiction.
   
    
3. Navigate to the Legislation tab for that jurisdiction.
4. Browse the list of legislation links and select the Bills database.
5. You can refine the results by year or alphabetically to find the relevant Bill.