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Trek 14: Finding Acts, Regulations, Bills and Hansard

Did you know that A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999 (Cth) was one of many Acts of Parliament that made the GST law in Australia?

This Trek introduces you to some sources which are the basis of Australian law and others which are part of the process leading to the laws being passed. You will learn how to find these sources of 'legislation' in libraries and on the Web.

Trek 14 logo

Finding Acts of Parliament
Finding Regulations
Finding Bills
Finding Hansard
Helpful hints for finding legislation.

InfoTrekker Plus Quiz 14

Links

Finding Acts of Parliament

Acts of Parliament are also called 'statutes'. In Australia, Acts must be passed by both houses of either the Federal (Commonwealth) or State Parliament.

Here are two examples of Acts:

The Defence Act 1903 (Cth). This is a Commonwealth statute. Australia's defence is the responsibility of the Federal government.

The Mental Health Act 1996 (WA) is a Western Australian Act that defines the terms and responsibilities for mental health administration in W.A.

After the Principal Act is passed, it can be altered by Amendments or Amending Acts which have also been passed by Parliament. From time to time a Reprint of the Act, including all its amendments, may be issued. Amendments can be passed after a reprint, so you may have to find them to get a complete picture of the Act.

To find a specific Act, such as the Mental Health Act 1996 (WA), you can:

Search the State Law Publisher's website for Western Australian Acts and Regulations. This is the official website for WA legislation.
Search the ComLaw website - the official website for Commonwealth legislation.

Look for a print copy in a library. Single Acts do not often appear in library catalogues. Libraries tend to treat them as journals, so look for titles such as Acts of the Parliament of Western Australia or Acts of the Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia and try to find the most recent reprint of your Act.

To find an Act on a particular subject, you can search these sources :

State Law Publisher website for Western Australian statutes . See Links.
ComLaw website for Commonwealth legislation. See Links.
LawLex an online subject index to all Australian legislation. See Links.
Wicks Subject Index to Commonwealth Legislation - a print index.
The annual Index volume to the printed Acts of the Parliament of Western Australia - for Western Australian statutes.

Textbooks on an area of law will cite the most important Acts. To find law books in library catalogues, choose a Keyword search and use terms for the area of law and the country or state. You can also add the terms 'law' or 'legislation'. For example:
- health----legislation----australia
- land rights----western australia
- libel ---- law ----- australia
A good legal dictionary will give you definitions and the name/s of the relevant Act or law case report where the term (eg. 'slander', 'custody', 'consumer', 'design') was first defined in law.

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Finding Regulations

Regulations are also called 'delegated' or 'subsidiary' legislation. They are the detailed rules developed by government departments that administer an Act.

Here are some Regulations that relate to the Environmental Protection Act 1986 (WA) - a Western Australian Act:

Clean Air Regulations 1967
Environmental Protection Regulations 1987
Environmental Protection (Noise) Regulations 1997.

These Regulations define who can decide on acceptable levels of noise etc, the penalties and how the decisions can be appealed.

Regulations are published in weekly Government Gazettes, such as the Western Australian Government Gazette and the Commonwealth of Australia Gazette.

To find the Regulations for a particular Act you can:

Search the State Law Publisher website (Subsidiary legislation) for West Australian legislation.See Links.
Search the ComLaw website (Legislative Instruments or Select legislative Instruments)) for Commonwealth Regulations. See Links.

Look in the latest Index of the print Acts of the Parliament of Western Australia in the section called Subsidiary Legislation. This lists Western Australian Regulations and gives the date of the Western Australian Government Gazette you will find them in.

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Finding Bills

Before an Act of Parliament is passed, a Bill, a proposed law for the Act, must be presented to both houses of Parliament for 'readings', be debated and then passed by each house.

Some Bills, such as the Voluntary Euthanasia Bill 1998, a Western Australian Bill, have never been passed.

The text of Bills can be difficult to find. It is worth checking the website of the government department which may have prepared a recent Bill or the state parliament's website.

The Parliament of Australia's website has a Bills tab with links to Bills of current and previous Parliaments and their content. ComLaw has Commonwealth legislation and Bills from 1996 onwards. See Links.

Libraries will hold very few Bills in print. To find them, choose a catalogue Keyword or Word search and search on the name of the Bill or the terms 'bills' and 'legislation' with terms for the topic and the Australian state or 'australia'. For example:

workplace relations bill---australia
bills---legislation---tax---australia

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Finding Hansard

Hansard, also called Parliamentary Debates, is an accurate representation of debates in Parliament. Reading Hansard can be useful for understanding the background to issues of the time.

Here is an extract from the Parliamentary Debates of the Legislative Council of Western Australia for Wednesday, 8 September 1914, page 1113:

BILL--POSTPONEMENT OF DEBTS
Received from the Assembly and read a first time.
Second Reading

ctd.
Hon. Sir E.H. Wittenoom :- There is no poverty in Western Australia. The worker is a rich man, and the capitalist is a poor man in this State. The worker is better off now than any other man in Western Australia.

Hon J. Cornell: - I should like to change places.

The Australian Parliament and State Parliaments' websites have links to recent Bills and Hansards. (See Links). You may need Adobe Reader software on your computer to read the text.

Curtin's Robertson Library has the printed Parliamentary Debates of both the Legislative Council and the Legislative Assembly of Western Australia from 1870 onwards and the Parliamentary Debates of the House of Representatives and the Senate of the Commonwealth Parliament from 1962 onwards.

It always helps to know the year/s that debates occurred so that you can search the relevant volumes.

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Helpful hints for finding legislation

At Curtin University's Robertson Library, print volumes of Acts, Regulations, Hansard and indexes to legislation are held in the Government Publications Collection on Level 4. Other Curtin libraries may also have some of these titles.
The print version of Acts and Regulations, rather than the electronic version is the 'official' version of the legislation.
The Australian Legal Monthly Digest (in print) lists very recent Acts, amending Acts and Regulations for all States and the Commonwealth.
WorldLII links to the legislation and cases of many countries.
Search databases such as AGIS Plus Text, APA Full Text, LexisNexis's CaseBaseto find journal articles about Australian legal issues and the Factiva database for newspaper articles about legislation and cases.
Always check the date of a Web page or publication to see if you have the most recent information about legislation.
Curtin University Library's Subject Guide to Business Law is an excellent guide to sources in all areas of law, including Family, Media and Social Work Law. See Links.

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or Quiz 14 (Text version)

Now leap to our Quiz!! Then learn more about legal sources in Trek 15.