Acts of Parliament
An Act is a law made by Parliament, and historically was referred to as a statute. An Act starts out as a Bill. If the Bill passes through all readings in each house of Parliament and receives Royal Assent, it becomes an Act. To learn more about the process of a Bill through Parliament, visit the Legislative Process flowchart.
Commonwealth legislation is read and debated in both the House of Representatives (Lower House) and the Senate (Upper House).
In Victoria, the legislation is read and debated in the Legislative Assembly (Lower House) and the Legislative Council (Upper House).
Acts are published as either Principal Acts or Amending Acts.
Principal Acts
Principal Acts are substantive legislation which addresses the law on a particular topic or area of the law. For example, the Civil Aviation Act 1988 (Cth) is the principal Act which governs all aspects of civil aviation law in Australia.
Amending Acts
An amending Act may amend one or more principal Acts. An amendment can change or repeal an existing provision or add a new provision.
If a provision within a principal Act is to be changed, there are two ways to achieve this:
- Parliament can pass an amending act. The word 'amendment' will be in the title of the later Act. These Acts identify specific provisions of the principal Act that are to be changed and specify the new provision. For example, the Civil Aviation Legislation Amendment Act 1995 (Cth) amended provisions of the principal Act and other Acts.
- Parliament may also pass an Act that will amend more than one Act. For example, the Statute Law Revisions Act 1996 (Cth) made amendments to more than 100 Acts.
Is the Act current?
It is important to ensure that you are using the current authorised version of an Act, if you are examining the law as it is currently in force.
Acts are amended over time to reflect changes in government policy, societal attitudes, and the outcomes of court cases. Some principal Acts (for example those dealing with taxation) are amended frequently. Most Acts passed in any year are amending Acts to alter a principal Act.
See Finding Acts & Amendments to learn how to locate the most current version of an Act or amendments to an Act on an authorised Government legislation website.
The table below provides a summary of legislation resources and an indication of content updates.
| Database / website | Authorised legislation content | Amendment updates | Annotations* |
|---|---|---|---|
| Federal Register of Legislation |  |
# |
 |
| Victorian Legislation | |
# |
|
| AustLII | |
|
|
| Lawlex Premium | |
|
|
| LawNow on Lexis+ Australia | |
|
|
| Westlaw Australia | |
|
|
# Amendment updates will appear on these websites first.
*Annotations for case and secondary materials.
Caution
It is best practice to check the current Bills activity to find any Bills that have recently passed, or may soon pass, and affect an Act.
For example, if you are researching for proposed amendments to a Victorian Act, use the Victorian Legislation Bills or Bill Search in Lawlex Premium.