Australian and selected overseas governments: a quick guide to key internet links

6 December 2013

PDF version [273KB]

Deirdre McKeown
Politics and Public Administration

This Quick Guide provides links to:

federal, state and territory government entry points and key departments
government gazettes
federal state, territory and local government directories
federal, state and territory administrative arrangements orders
selected overseas government entry points and portals

Australian Government

Commonwealth Government Entry Point includes federal, state and territory government links to departments, services, key facts and figures.
Government data makes available federal, state and territory government public datasets.
www.gov.au links to federal, state, territory and local government portals.
Council of Australian Governments (COAG) COAG is the peak intergovernmental forum in Australia. The members of COAG are the Prime Minister, State and Territory Premiers and Chief Ministers and the President of the Australian Local Government Association. Includes details of the COAG agenda, meetings, agreements and reports.
Government On-line Directory (GOLD) contact details for key staff in federal government departments and agencies, members of councils committees and boards, includes links to state and territory government functions and services.
List of Australian Government Bodies and Governance Relationships as at 1 October 2009, third edition, produced by the Department of Finance, gives an overview of the administrative, legal and financial structures of federal government departments and agencies, statutory and non-statutory bodies and parliamentary departments.
Administrative Arrangements Order - Commonwealth of Australia lists the matters dealt with by each Department of State and the legislation administered by each Minister of State administering a Department.
Administrative arrangements orders from 1901 hosted on the National Archives of Australia website, the information is for historical purposes only.
Australian Government Lobbyists Register , Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Any lobbyist who acts on behalf of third-party clients for the purposes of lobbying Government representatives must be registered on the Register of Lobbyists and must comply with the requirements of the Lobbying Code of Conduct.
Australian Government Cabinet Handbook, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. The Handbook sets out the principles of Cabinet government in Australia and describes Cabinet structure and process.
Legislative Handbook, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. The Handbook describes the procedures involved in making Commonwealth Acts.
Commonwealth of Australia Gazette: Government notices
Australian Government Publications Guide a guide to selected types of federal, state and territory government publications, such as Acts, Hansards, Gazettes and Parliamentary Papers, located in Australia's National, State and Territory libraries or available on the Internet.

State and territory governments

Tasmanian Lobbying code of conduct

Victoria

Victoria online
Victorian Department of Premier and Cabinet
Victorian Premier's home page
Victorian Government Gazette
Administration of Acts , General Order dated 20 March 2013
Victorian Lobbying code of conduct

Western Australia

WA Government information
WA Department of the Premier and Cabinet
WA Premier's home page
WA Government Gazette
Acts with administering portfolios and public sector agencies, search by Act, portfolio or agency. The ‘Administration of Departments, Authorities, Statutes and Votes’ is published periodically in the WA Government Gazette.
WA Contact with lobbyists code Public Service Commission

Local Government

Australian Local Government Association includes links to state local government associations.
University of Technology, Sydney Centre of Excellence for Local Government
Commonwealth Local Government Forum, promotes local government across the Commonwealth and encourages the exchange of best practice through conferences and events, projects and research.
Focus Online online national local government newspaper.
Oultwood Local Government Web Index provides links to local councils within Australia.

Overseas Governments

Canada

Government of Canada home page
Service Canada, search for Government services.
Office of the Prime Minister
The Lobbyists’ code of conduct

New Zealand

Official website of the New Zealand Government
New Zealand Government information
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet

United Kingdom and Northern Ireland

United Kingdom

Prime Minister’s Office, 10 Downing Street
Gov.UK search for government information and services.
The UK Civil Service
Official Documents website
British Official Publications Collaborative Reader Information Service (BOPCRIS) search information from British Official Publications 1688–1995.

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland Office Gov.UK
Government of Northern Ireland

Scotland

Scottish Government information
First Minister’s website

Wales

Welsh Assembly Government information
First Minister’s website

United States of America

The Whitehouse
Office of the President
Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents
USA.gov government made easy, includes an A-Z index of the US Government.
US Government Printing Office
BusinessUSA a one-stop shop for everything related to business in the USA.
SearchGov.com a directory of US Government websites.
State and Local Government on the Net a directory of official state, county and city government websites.
State Governments

Creative Commons

With the exception of the Commonwealth Coat of Arms, and to the extent that copyright subsists in a third party, this publication, its logo and front page design are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia licence.