Introduction to legislation
In the Australian jurisdiction, legislation, (also known as Statutes, Acts, Rules, Regulations, or Legislative Instruments) is the written law created by Parliament. It is a primary source of law, and it is essential that you always refer to the official/authoritative version. See the Official versions of legislation listed below.
Australian legislation takes two main forms:
- Bills, Statutes or Acts made by Parliament (known as 'Acts of Parliament').
- Delegated or subordinate legislation (including statutory rules, regulations, legislative instruments or by-laws) made by office-holders or bodies to which parliament has delegated law-making power under an enabling provision of an Act.
Commonwealth, State and Territory governments all have official websites which contain the authoritative versions of the legislation for their respective jurisdictions. The free AustLII website contains unofficial versions of current legislation, and historical versions of some jurisdictions.
Tip
Always check the currency of the legislation you are referring to.
Official versions of legislation
The following Commonwealth, State and Territory government sites contain the official versions of each jurisdiction's legislation.
- Commonwealth
- Australian Capital Territory
- New South Wales
- Northern Territory
- Queensland
- South Australia
- Tasmania
- Victoria
- Western Australia
Various legal publishers (such as Lawlex, LawNow (Lexis+ Australia), CCH iKnowConnect and Westlaw Australia) reproduce unofficial versions of legislation with enhanced content such as commentaries and annotations, or will provide links to the official government versions.