Learning Objectives

By the end of this module, you will be able to:

• understand the form taken by Acts
• locate the full text of Acts
• find the commencement dates of Acts
• explain the different types of Acts.

Format of an Act

All Australian Acts follows the same basic structure. On the first page of a printed Act you will find:

• Titles. Every Act has two titles, the full title and the short title. The long title in the example below is: An Act to provide for the Government of the Australian Capital Territory, and for related purposes. The Act's short title is Australian Capital Territory (Self-Government) Act. The short title is the one most often used when referring to an Act, for obvious reasons.
• Number. Each Act is given a number determined by its sequence in the Acts passed by the Parliament in question during that year. For example, the Australian Capital Territory (Self-Government) Act 1988 (Cth) was Act No. 106 for 1988. An Act can be precisely identified just by its number. However, when citing a Act, it is usual to refer to an Act by its short or long title.
• Enacting words. These words introduce the statute, giving it the force of law: "BE IT ENACTED by the Queen ..."

After the first page comes the body of the Act. Acts are divided into sections. Sections are numbered in order and can be divided into sub-sections. If the Act is a lengthy one, sections and sub-sections are often grouped together into divisions and parts. In addition, many Acts contain schedules. These are appendices to the Act and contain detailed information such as tables and lists.

Finding Legislation

If your university subscribes to LawLex, you can find Acts using this source. The University of Wollongong provides an online tutorial for using LawLex to find Acts by title.

Even without a subscription to LawLex, you can find Acts using the sites below:

Commonwealth

ComLaw includes all Commonwealth sessional Acts since 1973 as well as reprints and consolidated Acts.

States and Territories

Australian Capital Territory

• The official source for ACT Acts is the ACT Legislation Register. The Register provides the full text of Territory Acts as made and republished, as well as other texts related to Acts, such as Commencement Notices and Statutory Instruments.

New South Wales

• The NSW Legislation site is the official NSW Government source for the legislation. From the In Force and Repealed page, you can search Acts, subordinate legislation (such as regulations, by-laws and rules) and environmental planning instruments (EPIs). To search Acts, EPIs, regulations, rules and other subordinate legislation made under Acts, as originally enacted or made, use the As Made page.

Northern Territory

• The Current Northern Territory Register of Legislation provides the current form of NT Acts. Numbered Acts and past consolidations of Acts are available from the Northern Territory Legislation History database.

Queensland

• The Queensland Government site has Acts SL in force, Acts SL as passed, Repealed legislation and Information about individual Acts, including legislative history (for both original Acts and amendments).

South Australia

• The South Australian Legislation site contains the full text of SA Bills, Acts and Regulations.

Tasmania

• The Tasmanian Legislation site has Acts published before 1973 in consolidated form, and Acts published after that date in both consolidated and original form.

Victoria

• The Victorian Legislation site includes the text of Victorian Acts as passed as well as past and present consolidated Acts.

Western Australia

• WA Acts are available online from the Western Australian Legislation site.

Finding amendments to acts using Lexisnexis Click on the Play button below to find out how to locate amendments to acts using Lexisnexis. 1.10min, 344KB

Finding Acts without the exact title

If you do not know the exact title of an Act, most of the sites above include online search facilities that will help you locate the specific statute you require. In addition, for South Australia there is a Subject Index to South Australian Legislation. Tasmanian Acts are covered by the Subject Index of Tasmanian Legislation.

LawLex provides subscribers with a Subject Index of Principal Australian Legislation. For Commonwealth Acts, there is also a printed source, Wicks Subject Index to Commonwealth Legislation. This is published each year.

Finding commencement dates

Assent by the Governor-General or Governor alone does not mean that an Act comes immediately into operation. The standard rule is for an Act to come into force 28 days after receiving the Royal Assent or the Act is gazetted in the Government Gazette. Other arrangements are equally possible. These details are usually stated in Section 2 of the Act.

An Act can have more than one proclamation date, as certain sections of the Act may commence before others.

Finding commencement dates for Acts is now relatively simple: there are free Web sites which provide this information for all Australian jurisdictions.

Commonwealth

• ComLaw. To find the history of an Act, locate the latest compilation of the Act. Open the compilation and scroll to the Notes section at the end.

States and Territories

Australian Capital Territory

• Commencement dates for the Australian Capital Territory are available from the ACT Legislation Register: Notifications of Commencement Notices page.

New South Wales

• The NSW Legislation site provides commencement dates for Acts in the historical notes for each Act.

Northern Territory

• The Northern Territory Legislation History Database gives details of commencement dates for NT Acts in the notes at the start of the text for each Act.

Queensland

• Commencement dates for Acts are found in the Current Queensland Legislation Annotations

South Australia

• The commencement date of SA Acts is available from the page Proclamations and Notices made by the Governor of South Australia
• The South Australian Government Gazette also includes commencement dates for legislation.

Tasmania

• The information available from the Office of Parliamentary Counsel site includes the commencement dates for Tasmanian statutes.

Victoria

• The Victorian Legislation and Parliamentary Documents site has commencement dates in text of the individual Acts.

Western Australia

• Western Australian Legislation site includes assent dates and commencement details for all WA Acts.

Types of Acts

Acts come in a range of types:

• Principal Acts. The term principal Act or original Act refers to the inital Act as passed by Parliament.
• Amending Acts. An amending Act needs to be read in conjunction with the principal Act. An original Act may have words or provisions added, removed or omitted, by an amending Act.
• Reprinted Act. In most Australian jurisdictions, Acts are republished at irregular intervals. Each reprint incorporates all the changes made to the original Act by subsequent amending Acts.
• Consolidated Act. When refering to printed statutes, the term consolidated Act is equivalent to reprinted Act. However, this term can have a special meaning in relation to online databases such as AustLII. These will automatically consolidate the Act for ease of use, by cutting and pasting the relevant amendments into the principal Act. Such online consolidations are not the authorised versions of an Act. However, they are often more up-to-date than the official reprint.
• Annotated Acts. Annotated Acts are republished Acts which include commentary as well as amendments.
• Private Acts. Private Acts are Acts which benefit a particular individual or group, and not the community at large.
• Public Acts. A public Act applies to the public at large. Public Acts comprise the majority of existing legislation.
• Codes. A code is a statute which brings together all existing law (statute and case law) on a topic. For example, Queensland, Tasmania, Western Australia and the Northern Territory all have a criminal code.
• Sessional Acts.When passed, an Act initially appears in an unbound paper format known as a numbered or sessional Act.

Summary

This module dealt with the following topics:

• the form taken by Acts
• finding the full text of Acts
• locating commencement dates
• the different types of Acts.