This guide contains links to Internet resources and documents in the area of Australian law.
The Federal Register of Legislation is the authorised site for federal legislation from 1901 such as Acts, legislative instruments, Regulations, Rules, Government Gazettes and other resources.
Bills and Explanatory Memoranda
Bills – from 1901 are in the Parliament's Parlinfo database. Explanatory Memoranda (EM), Bills Digests, second reading speeches (from 1901), proposed amendments, regulation impact statements (when made) are also available
Federal Register of Legislation – 1900-1938, 1954, 1988, 1992, 1996-1999, 2020-
Index to Explanatory Memoranda 1901-1982 – A list compiled by the Parliamentary Library showing which Bills were accompanied by an EM, with links to selected EMs. Not all Bills had EMs before 1982.
Bills Lists 1981-1995 These contain information about every bill introduced into Parliament. 1981--1982--1983--1984-- 1984 (pp. 11-12)--1985--1986--1987 (June)--1987 (December)--1988--1989--1990--1991--1992--1993--1994--1995. Lists for 1996 onwards may be found on the Parliament House database Parlinfo.
Acts
Federal Register of Legislation 1901- the authorised site for Commonwealth Acts.
Federal Register of Legislation - Legislation Tables (from January 2023 these legislation tables will no longer be updated) Contains: Acts Tables 1901-2022 (an alphabetical and chronological consolidated list of all Acts passed and how affected by later legislation. Very useful for historical research); annual Acts Tables 1993-2022; Repealed Acts Tables 1988-2022.
Commencement Dates for Acts Each Act usually provides for how it will come into force (for example, the day after Royal Assent). If the date of commencement is to be done by Proclamation this is notified as a Legislative Instrument on the Federal Register (see below) or before 2005 notified in the Government Gazette. From 2005 each Act as passed on the Federal register provides details of any commencement proclamations (usually in section 2), while each compilation of an Act provides commencement information for the principal and amending Acts in a table in the Notes to the Act. The Office of Parliamentary Counsel provides background to commencement provisions in its Drafting Direction no. 1.3 'Commencement Provisions'.
AustLII 1973+
Delegated Legislation (Legislative Instruments, Statutory Rules, Regulations, determinations, directives, orders, proclamations, et cetera)
Consolidated (or reprinted) legislative instruments on the Federal Register The authorised site for much delegated legislation. If the instrument you want is not here, try browsing instruments 'as made' (selected from 1920+).
Explanatory Statements to Legislative Instruments 1920+. These are equivalent to Explanatory Memorandums to Bills. Select "Explanatory Statement" under the name of each instrument.
AustLII
Other delegated legislation not required to be registered on the Federal Register is sometimes notified in the Commonwealth of Australia Gazette. Some government departments also publish their delegated legislation on their web sites. The Administrative Arrangements Order can be checked to determine the legislation administered by each department.
Senate Tabled Papers Database Instruments and Explanatory Statements tabled in the Senate A database of items tabled in the Senate. It covers regulations and instruments tabled in the Senate since 1901. Select "Instrument" and its subdivisions or "Legislative Instrument" in the "Description" pull down box. Note: the databse is tricky to use and you should read the "Tips on Searching" before starting.
ComLaw Legislation Tables Contains: Tables of Select Legislative Instruments 2005+; Statutory Rules Table 1903-2012 (an alphabetical list of all Rules in force as at 2012); annual Statutory Rules Tables 1992+.
Letters Patent
A small number of regulations and ordinances is made under Letters Patent. They are published in the Commonwealth of Australia gazette and occasionally on ComLaw. For further information on this type of legislation see the Library's Research Note no. 11, 2003-04, 18 September 2003, A rare form of law making: legislation made outside Parliamentby Roy Jordan.
Model Laws published by the Standing Committee of Attorneys General (SCAG) - model laws of Defamation, Evidence, Legal Profession, Criminal Law and others.
Australian Capital Territory
ACT Legislation Register Launched in September 2001, the Register aims to provide access to the full text of Bills, Acts as passed, consolidated Acts and Subordinate Legislation
ACT Legislation – from AustLII
New South Wales
NSW Bills and Explanatory Notes (New South Wales Parliament site)
NSW Legislation (Parliamentary Counsel's Office) The most comprehensive site for NSW legislation. Has texts of all legislation in force as well as numbered acts since 1990 and recently repealed legislation. There is also a historical set of Explanatory Notes back to 1990 (under "Browse A-Z as made")
NSW Legislation – via AustLII
NSW Parliamentary Counsel's Office Texts of some model national uniform legislation
NSW Statutes Annotations - through LexisNexis AU and available by subscription to Parliament only
Northern Territory
Northern Territory Legislation from the Legislative Assembly. Note that Acts and Bills are available under the link "Register of Legislation"
Northern Territory Legislation – from AustLII
Queensland
Queensland Legislation via Queensland Office of Parliamentary Counsel. Includes Bills and Explanatory Notes. The most comprehensive site for Queensland legislation
Queensland Legislation – via AustLII
Queensland Historical Legal Collection Includes 1936 reprint of acts and table of acts 1824-1936, & other historical legislation
Queensland Legislation Case Annotations - through LexisNexis AU and available by subscription to Parliament only
South Australia
Bills 2005+ (Office of Parliamentary Counsel)
2002+ (AustLII)
Acts and Regulations
1837-2002 (Flinders University)
2003+ (Office of Parliamentary Counsel. The most comprehensive site for current South Australian legislation).
Subject Index to South Australian Legislation compiled by the Australian Law Librarians' Association (South Australian Division).
South Australian Legislation 2003+ – via AustLII.
Tasmania
Bills (September 2002+). On AustLII.
Bills (2002+). On Tasmanian Parliament site.
Tasmanian Legislation – via Tasmanian Office of Parliamentary Counsel. The most comprehensive site for Tasmanian legislation.
Tasmanian Acts – via AustLII.
Tasmanian Legislation indexes, commencement dates etc via Tasmanian Office of Parliamentary Counsel. Includes tables of acts from 1826.
Tasmanian Administrative Arrangements – A list of Acts and their administering departments.
Victoria
Victorian Legislation – via Dept of the Premier and Cabinet. This is the most comprehensive site for Victorian legislation. Includes Bills from 1996 and Explanatory Memoranda from Autumn 2001 (select "Archive" on the Parliamentary Documents page for old Bills and EMs).
Victorian Legislation – via AustLII
Indexes to Victorian legislation - from the Office of the Chief Parliamentary Counsel, Department of Premier and Cabinet
Victorian Statutes Annotations - through LexisNexis AU and available by subscription to Parliament only
Western Australia
Western Australian Bills, 1997+. For Explanatory Memoranda, select the title of the Bill.
Western Australian legislation – from the State Law Publisher. The most comprehensive site for Western Australian legislation.
Western Australian legislation – from AustLII
Other Territories
Non self-governing territories legislation is available on ComLaw. Select Legislative Instruments Compilations>Ordinances (or Regulations) [Name of Territory]
Norfolk Island Select "Legislation" for reprinted and numbered Acts and Regulations as well as legislation tables
Many current Commonwealth, State and Territory court and tribunal decisions are published on AustLII. Courts which publish their own decisions or summaries of cases pending are listed at the Law and Justice Foundation Judgments and Courts page. Note that decisions available from these sources are usually drafts and are subject to revision before being published, along with a summary and arguments of counsel, in commercially published law reports eg Commonwealth Law Reports
Australian Law Reports, Australian Capital Territory Reports, Northern Territory Reports Full text of all volumes from volume 1 (1973)+. [Through LexisNexisAU and available by subscription to Parliament only]. Includes Casebase, an index of cases and annotations
Commonwealth Law Reports, Federal Court Reports, Federal Law Reports, Firstpoint (Australian Digest, Australian Case Citator) Full text of all volumes from volume 1 (1903)+. [Through Thomson Reuters Legal Online and available by subscription to Parliament only]
Jade Free site of court decisions, with citator facility. Intends to provide access to vols 1-100 of the Commonwealth Law reports
Unreported decisions from several jurisdictions Full text of decisions from the 1960s (each jurisdiction varies). [Through LexisNexis AU and available by subscription to Parliament only]
Monash University National Centre for Coronial Information Provides registered access to coroners' reports from various jurisdictions
Attorney-General's Department
Links to Australian Government Law Sites
Australian Academy of Law Promotes high standards of learning and conduct and collegiality across the legal profession
Australian and New Zealand Law and History Society
Australian and New Zealand Sports Law Association
Australian Federal Police
Australian Government Solicitor
Australian Law Reform Commission
AustLII Australasian Legal Information Institute. Provides access to Commonwealth, State and Territory legislation, court decisions and other legal materials, including links to other Australian and overseas law sites
Butterworths Publishers (see LexisNexis)
CCH law and tax publishers
Australian Guide to Legal Citation 2nd ed. A guide to citing legal materials written by the University of Melbourne School of Law
Council of Australian Governments (COAG)
Federal Court of Australia
Federal Magistrates Court
Francis Forbes Society for Australian Legal History
High Court of Australia
International Legal Services Advisory Council A part-time advisory council to the government with the function of improving Australia's international performance in the legal and related areas
Law Book Co (see Thomson Reuters)
Law Council of Australia The national organisation representing the legal profession. Includes texts of its media releases on current legal issues and its newsletter Australian lawyer. Provides links to State and Territory law societies
Law Journals (via AustLII) Full text of mainly academic law reviews
The Law Report Australian Broadcasting Corporation Radio National. Transcripts and summaries of a weekly programme devoted to current legal issues
LexisNexis (Law publisher, formerly Butterworths) Includes Halsburys laws of Australia, etc. the full text of which is available through the Parliamentary Library's LexisNexis.AU online service. Parliamentary staff should click on : "Log In to LexisNexis AU " under 'Useful Links' in order to access subscription services
Ministerial Council on the Administration of Justice
Rule of Law Association of Australia An advocacy group supporting the rule of law when laws are being developed and reviewed
Standing Committee of Attorneys General (SCAG) The Ministerial Council of Commonwealth, State, Territory and New Zealand attorneys-general. SCAG meets regularly to discuss legal matters of national interest and uniformity of laws
Thomson Reuters (Law publisher, formerly Law Book Co)
Weblaw: a co-operative web legal indexing project
ACT Department of Justice and Community Safety
Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly
ACT Supreme Court, Magistrates Court and coronial inquiries Note that the A.C.T. does not have a middle tier of courts
Law and Justice Foundation of NSW Has extensive links to NSW legal information
NSW LawLink – (Attorney General's Department). Links to NSW law sites
New South Wales Parliament Note that Hansard is available online for 1843-1880 & 1984+
New South Wales Supreme Court decisions 1999+ A very comprehensive and current source of decisions
Northern Territory Legislative Assembly
Northern Territory Supreme Court
Queensland Parliament
Queensland Supreme Court
OzCase A collaboration between SE Queensland law libraries to provide access to Queensland legal materials. Also contains texts of historic legal materials
South Australian law sites
South Australian Parliament
The Law Handbook Online Plain English overview of most areas of South Australian law
Tasmania Online – a directory of web sites from the Tasmanian government
Tasmanian Parliament
Legalonline – Victorian legal information on several topics aimed mainly at non-lawyers
Victorian Parliament
Supreme Court unreported judgments
The Law Handbook Online Plain English overview of most areas of Victorian law
Western Australian Parliament
Supreme Court
A Guide to online research resources for the Australian Federal Legal System with some reference to the State Level (P. Kinder) An excellent essay providing a structured approach to legal research on the Internet
Halsburys laws of Australia (LexisNexis) A major law encyclopedia and a good starting point for most legal research. A commercial publication and not available outside Parliament without a subscription
The Laws of Australia (Lawbook Online) A major law encyclopedia and a good starting point for most legal research. A commercial publication and not available outside Parliament without a subscription
LexisNexis.AU online research publications Includes Australian Current Law (monthly summaries of new cases and legislation); statutes annotations for the Commonwealth and some States; and legal dictionaries. A commercial publication and not available outside Parliament without a subscription
Legal Online Research publications from Thomson Reuters (Australian Digest, Australian Legal Monthly Digest, Commonwealth Law Reports, Laws of Australia etc). A commercial publication and not available outside Parliament without a subscription
Legal research guides on the Internet (A WEBLAW research guide)
Foolkit Maintained by lawyers, Foolkit allows searching of law sites with one interface
AussieLegal (outlines of over 120 different areas of the law - a good starting point for basic legal information. However not all States and Territories are covered)
Abbreviations of legal publications (Monash University Library) Excellent guide to abbreviations of law reports and law journals
Books on legal research. These provide a more thorough overview of legal research tools. To verify the latest edition see the National Library catalogue. For Parliamentary Library holdings see the Library catalogue.
Online research only: Law on the internet (C. Banks, H. Douglas); E-law research: your guide to electronic legal research (S. Dayal)
Online and print sources: Concise legal research (R. Watt); Effective legal research (I. Nemes, G.Coss.); Laying down the law (C. Cook et al); Legal research: materials and methods (Campbell, E.); Legal technique (C. Enright); Researching and writing in law (T. Hutchinson)
These are websites, usually of individual lawyers, providing opinions on current legal issues. They are usually very current, being updated on a very regular basis. Individual blogs sometimes provide links to other blogs.
Deakin University list of law blogs
Blog or you won't be read (James McConvill). The Age, 3 April 2006
via AUSTLII
via Federal Court
Fee Fie Foe Firm Australia Search facility for law firm sites. Very useful for finding recent analysis of legal issues
via FindLaw Australia
via Foolkit Maintained by lawyers, Foolkit aims to link to various sites in all jurisdictions which maybe of value to lawyers and the public
via Monash University
GovPubs: the Australian Government Publications Guide (National Library of Australia) Guide to legal and related materials on the Internet and in printed copies as held in the National Library and State and Territory libraries
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