Law Resource Guide

This guide provides information on finding legal resources for courses in the LAWS Program.

Understanding Legislation

Legislation is the process of preparing and enacting laws. Section 51 of the Australian Constitution opens in a new window gives the Australian Parliament the power to make the laws that govern society in Australia.

A Bill is a proposal to parliament for a new law or a change to an existing one.

 

diagram showing the path of a bill from introduction to being passed as a law

 

Making a law in the Australian Parliamentary Education Office available at https://www.peo.gov.au/understand-our-parliament/how-parliament-works/bills-and-laws/making-a-law-in-the-australian-parliament/ opens in a new window. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

General resources

Commonwealth Resources

Locating up to date Acts

Federal Register of Legislation opens in a new window - Acts from 1901 - present

TimeBase opens in a new window - Acts from 1998 - present

Lawlex opens in a new window - Acts from 1901 - present

Locating point in time Acts

TimeBase opens in a new window - offers a point in time service for some Commonwealth legislation, and is grouped by subject category

Federal Register of Legislation opens in a new window - limited point in time service for historical versions of Acts from 1901 - present

Locating Acts as made Federal Register of Legislation Tables opens in a new window contains the Acts Table 1901 + (an alphabetical and chronological consolidated list of all Acts passed and how they were affected by later legislation. (Very useful for historical research); annual Acts Tables 1993 +; Repealed Acts Tables 1998 +
Legislative history LawNow on Lexis Advance opens in a new window provides detailed information about the history of Acts and subordinate legislation including assents, commencement information and amendment information.

Queensland Resources

Queensland The Queensland Legislation opens in a new window website is the authoritative source for Queensland legislation


Other State Resources

Australian Capital Territory The ACT Legislation Register opens in a new window in the authorised source for Australian Capital Territory legislation
New South Wales

On the NSW Legislation opens in a new window website you can:

  • Browse Acts as originally passed by Parliament from 1824
  • Search the full text of Acts as originally passed by Parliament from 1990
Northern Territory The Northern Territory Legislation opens in a new window website is the authoritative source for Northern Territory Legislation
Tasmania The Tasmanian Legislation opens in a new window website is the authoritative source for Tasmanian legislation
South Australia The South Australian Legislation opens in a new window website is the authoritative source for South Australian legislation
Victoria The Victorian Legislation opens in a new window website is the authoritative source for Victorian legislation
Western Australia The Western Australian Legislationopens in a new window website by the Parliamentary Council Office is the authoritative source for Western Australian legislation

Australasian Legal Information Institute (AustLII)

AustLII opens in a new window publishes public legal information, including primary legal materials (legislation, treaties and decisions of courts and tribunals) as well as secondary legal materials created by public bodies for purposes of public access (law reform and royal commission reports for example). It also includes a substantial collection of law journals.

From the AustLII home page, you can click on a jurisdiction and 'drill down' until you find the relevant legislation.
Alternatively, you can search AustLII using the search box on the home page (an 'Advanced Search' option is also available).

Legify

Legify opens in a new window is an index of Australian Commonwealth Acts and Regulations. While it does not contain full text of legislation, it is useful as a quick tool for searching for accurate titles and currency of Australian legislation.

Lawlex

Lawlex opens in a new window gives you access to full-text Australian legislation, with associated Bill tracking, amendment & commencement information and related extrinsic materials.

You can also browse legislation; deselect all the jurisdictions and then select the jurisdiction you are researching. Then select the category and if necessary a sub category.

Federal Register of Legislation

The Federal Register of Legislation opens in a new window has the most complete and up-to-date collection of Commonwealth legislation and includes notices from the Commonwealth Government Notices Gazette from 1 October 2012.

What's New opens in a new window lists everything recently published to the Federal Register of Legislation within the last:

  • 3 months for Acts
  • 21 days for Gazettes
  • 14 days for all other material

You can also register for My Account opens in a new window to stay up to date on Commonwealth law.

Use the Help link opens in a new window if you require more information about how to use the site.

Federal Register of Legislation Legislation Tables opens in a new window contains the Acts Table 1901+ (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+; Repealed Acts Tables 1988+.

TimeBase

TimeBase opens in a new window offers a point in time service for some Commonwealth legislation, and are grouped by subject category. It is really useful it you want to find, track and monitor legislative changes.

Parliamentary Websites

Legislative material is available via parliamentary websites. This material includes bills, acts, regulations, statutory rules, explanatory notes etc.